The Terrible Child
by Cdc100
Summary: The Titans are enjoying their Saturday when they run across someone new: someone who's lost, alone and has a deep, dark secret. RobStar, BBRae, possible OCBlack
1. Saturday Morning

The Terrible Child

By cdc100

Summary: The Teen Titans are having a peaceful Saturday when they run across someone new; someone who is lost, alone, and holds a deep, dark secret. Robin X Starfire, Possible Beast Boy X Raven and OC X Blackfire.

Disclaimer: This is a work of pure, non-profit fanfiction. More comprehensive disclaimer to come.

 **1**

Chapter One

"Saturday Morning"

The boy was running through the forest, carrying a bloody knife in his hands. He had no place to put it, as he was bare save for a pair of black boxer shorts and short black socks. He breathed deep and slowly, but ran as fast as his feet would allow, looking frantically around the forest for anyone or anything. That was a challenge, as it was dark outside and he could feel the beginnings of a downpour on his bare chest and arms. Up ahead, he could see a clearing in the trees.

As he reached the edge of the trees, he looked behind him. He saw no one. He slowly looked back forward and collapsed to his knees, allowing the knife to drop from his hands as he looked over the bay. Ahead, he could see a city, and before that, in the middle of the bay, a gigantic T-shaped building. That was the last sight the boy registered before he passed out.

 _When there's trouble you know who to call_

 _TEEN TITANS_

 _From their tower they can see it all_

 _TEEN TITANS_

 _When there's evil on the attack_

 _You can rest knowing they've got your back_

 _Because when the world needs heroes on patrol_

 _TEEN TITANS_

 _GO_

 _With their superpowers they unite_

 _TEEN TITANS_

 _Never met a villain that they liked_

 _TEEN TITANS_

 _They've got the bad guys on the run_

 _They never stop till the job gets done_

 _Because when the world is losing all control_

 _TEEN TITANS_

 _GO_

 _ONE TWO THREE FOUR GO_

 _TEEN TITANS!_

As the sun came up over Jump City, the Titans slowly got out of bed and started their activities for the day. The Titans' resident alien, Starfire, flew up to the top of Titans Tower and spread her limbs wide so as to soak in the morning sun's rays. She breathed in and let all the air out through her mouth. She looked in the sun's direction and smiled. After a few minutes of floating in place, she landed on top of the tower and walked to the edge. She hung her legs over the edge as she enjoyed the morning sun.

So engrossed in her new home planet's brightest star, that she barely heard the sound of the door to the roof opening and closing nearby. However, the sound that followed got Starfire's attention.  
"Starfire," said the all-too-familiar voice of the Titans' leader, Robin. "Morning."

(A/N: Robin – Scott Menville)

Starfire turned her attention to Robin as he approached to join her. She smiled and gave a gentle wave.

"Hello, Robin," she said. "And a very glorious morning to you."

(A/N: Starfire – Hynden Walch)

"For once, I have to agree," said Robin.

Starfire looked over at Robin and quirked one of her tiny red eyebrows.

"You would agree a morning is glorious for once?" she asked. "Is there a special occasion of some sort today?"

Robin chuckled.

"No," he said. "It's a Saturday. That's all."

"Ah, yes," said Starfire, smiling. "It is the Saturday. I have read much about the pastimes associated with the seventh day of Earth's week, such as the cartoons of the morning and the 'Night Live' of Saturday."

Robin chuckled again.

"That's _Saturday Night Live_ , Star," he said.

"I have also done much in the way of precaution against the fever of Saturday night," said Starfire.

Robin scoffed and shook his head.

"You're thinking of the movie _Saturday Night Fever_ ," he said. "You can relax. It's not an actual illness."

"Oh," said Starfire, smiling. "I see. However, I fail to understand the context of the title. It is perhaps a movie about someone who falls ill on a Saturday night?"

"No," said Robin. "It's more of a movie about letting loose on a Saturday night."

"I see," said Starfire. "Then perhaps a more apt title would be _Saturday Night Fervor_."

"Never thought about it before," said Robin. "Maybe so."

"What did your Saturdays consist of before you became a Teen Titan?" asked Starfire.

"Usually training and…more training," said Robin. "My Saturdays have had a lot more slack since I came to the tower."

"You often play the games of video with friends Cyborg and Beast Boy," said Starfire. "Or you watch the television or listen o the music."

"Yeah," said Robin.

"Robin, may I ask you a question?" asked Starfire.

Robin looked over at Starfire.

"You do the fun things with our other friends, but you hardly ever do them with me," said Starfire. "Is there something wrong with me?"

"Wh-NO!" cried robin. "Of course not! There's nothing wrong with you."

"Then, why do you never do the fun things with me?" asked Starfire. "I would much enjoy the fun with you."

Robin knocked on his own forehead.

"I'm sorry, Starfire," said Robin. "If I had known, I would have come up with something. It's just…well, I wasn't sure…what you wanted. That's all. Believe me, if I was, I'd be doing it with you."

Starfire smiled at Robin.

"You do not have to fluster over this, Robin," she said. "I am not angry. I am merely making the suggestion."

Robin nodded.

"Right," said Robin. "I understand. Do you have something you'd like to do?"

"Would you perhaps desire to join me when I take Silkie on a walk through the park?" asked Starfire.

Robin smiled.

"Sure," he said. "That sounds like fun. When do you want to go?"

"Silkie and I love the mid-day," said Starfire. "When the sun is overhead, we feel like the world is without borders. We feel like we can go anywhere and do anything."

Robin nodded.

"I like the sound of that," he said. "Alright then."

Starfire chuckled.

"It sounds like it is 'the date,' then," she said.

Robin's cheeks flushed in response to Starfire's statement.

"Um…yeah," he said.

"Come, Robin," said Starfire, walking to the door leading off the roof. "We must pay morning greetings to our friends."

Robin smiled and followed after Starfire, who led the way to the main room of the tower, where Raven was sitting down and reading a book, and Beast Boy and Cyborg were playing one of their racing games.

"Oh, you're gonna pay for that, you little grass stain!" yelled Cyborg. "You do not know how long it took to get that upgrade!"  
(A/N: Cyborg – Khary Payton)

"Probably about as long as it's going to take you to get it again!" exclaimed Beast Boy, laughing.

(A/N: Beast Boy – Greg Cipes)

"Oh, you're in for it now!" Cyborg said. "I better not lose another upgrade, I know that."

Starfire went into the kitchen and started moving utensils and ingredients around. The noise brought Raven out of her book.

"Starfire, wait," she said. "Let me worry about cooking today."

(A/N: Raven – Tara Strong)

Raven sat her book down and put away a few of the utensils Starfire got out before retrieving a few other ingredients from the pantry and refrigerator.

"So, what's on the menu today, Raven?" asked Robin.

"I thought since my last attempt at pancakes horribly backfired, I would try them again," said Raven.

"Sounds good to me," said Robin. "How about silver dollar pancakes?"

"What difference does that make?" Raven asked, quirking an eyebrow. "Pancakes are pancakes are pancakes."

Robin shrugged.

"Just an idea," he said. "That's all."

Raven hummed in acknowledgment.

"Guess I can give them a try," she said. "They might cook faster, and if I fail, I'll waste less batter."

"I'm sure you'll do great, Raven" said Robin. "Thanks in advance."

"Non-dairy pancakes for me, Rae," said Beast Boy. "Thanks."

"Right," said Raven. "I was actually about to try some of this gluten-free stuff."

"Great idea!" said Beast Boy.

"Man, you didn't even know what gluten was until last week," said Cyborg.

"Dude!" cried Beast Boy. "It's veggie meat! How do you expect me to eat that?"

Cyborg sighed and went back to their game.

"Since it's a weekend, let's just keep an eye out for Titan alerts," said Robin. "Other than those, let's just take the day and relax."

"Seconded," said Raven.

Robin looked at his watch to determine the time. It was 8:45. He still had over three hours before he and Starfire took Silkie on their walk.

"I get the winner," he said, strolling over to the couch next to Beast Boy and Cyborg.

As Robin sat down, Raven finished cooking a few of the pancakes, which turned out well compared to her last batch, with only a few small burns on one side. She took a spatula and started dishing out the pancakes when suddenly her back went completely rigid. She dropped the pancake she was holding, which just barely landed on the plate in front of her.

Robin looked over into the kitchen and saw Raven's state. He got up and approached her before gently tapping her on the shoulder.

"Raven," said Robin. "You okay?"

"I'm…not sure," said Raven. "I felt something. Something…really weird."

Beast Boy Shrugged.

"Meh," he said. "Probably just some gas."

Raven scowled over in Beast Boy's direction, as did the other Titans. Cyborg even paused the game to glower at Beast Boy.

"What?" asked Beast Boy, unpausing the game. "Everybody gets it."

"Hey!" yelled Cyborg. "I wasn't ready!"

Cyborg hastily pressed buttons on his controller. Meanwhile, Robin looked back over at Raven.

"What did it feel like?" he asked.

"It felt…like something just…slithered up my spine," said Raven. "Weaving around and through the vertebrae to the base of my skull."

"We'll have Cyborg look you over after breakfast," said Robin. "Look, go back to your book. You did a great job on the pancakes. I'll handle the rest."

Raven nodded and retrieved her book before finding a seat at the table.

"Let me know if you feel any other disturbances," said Robin.

"Will do," said Raven, opening her book.

Outside the tower, the boy had stirred and was awake. He looked down at the ground and could see bits of the morning dew in the grass and slowly got up from his spot. He looked down at his right hand to see that he was still holding the bloody knife from the night before. He carefully carried the knife with him as he stood up. In the distance, he could once again see the T-shaped tower. He did not stop to give it a closer look, as he suddenly felt his stomach start to rumble. He looked ahead, into the water, and suddenly climbed down from his spot on the grass until he was at the water's edge. He waded into the water and dipped the knife in it before wiping it on the legs of his boxers. He then crouched low into the water and looked around for food.

As he looked, a strange thing happened. Instead of seeing the city he had reached, he could swear he saw vast expanses of jungle beyond the water, and multiple different kinds of fish swimming around.

He shook his head and waded further in before stopping short. He stayed perfectly still, the knife still in his hand and ready. He gently dipped the knife below the surface and waited.

As he waited, he stayed as still as he possibly could.

Eventually, as he stood in the water, he saw a large fish start to swim by him. As it came close, he swiftly jabbed the knife through the fish, which he then pulled up out of the water. It started to flop around on the knife, and the boy jabbed the knife into it several more times, until it finally stopped moving.

The boy then held the fish up and bit right into it, spitting out the scales he had just taken into his mouth before going in for another bite. He chewed the bite and swallowed. He moaned in satisfaction before taking a few more bites. As he ate, he looked up and could see the city once again. He nodded and continued eating. After a few minutes, he threw what remained of the fish onto shore and got ready to catch more.

Back in the tower, Robin was taking his turn at the game, playing against Cyborg, who won his game against Beast Boy.

"So, what are your plans for the day?" asked Robin.

"Tune up the T-Car and run diagnostics on the Tower's mainframe," said Cyborg. "After that, I think I'm gonna go to the movies. No hard parties tonight. What about you?"

"Beat you at this game and take Starfire and Silkie to the park," said Robin.

"Might want to reschedule beating me," said Cyborg.

"Sure about that, Tin Man?" asked Robin. "Because it looks like I'm beating you just fine right now."

As Robin finished his sentence, he passed Cyborg's car and used his nitro jets to rocket him forward a great distance.

"Not for long!" cried Cyborg, using his own nitro jets.

Raven looked up from her book.

"You know, I'm still kind of hungry," she said. "I think I'll throw a few more pancakes on. Anyone else want some?"

"Sure," said Cyborg. "You know me. I'll eat a whole horse for lunch. Thanks, Rae."

"Yeah, I can probably eat a couple more," said Robin.

"I'm stuffed, Said Beast Boy.

"I am satisfied with the number of dollar of silver cakes of the pan I have eaten," said Starfire.

Raven reheated the stove and started mixing more pancake batter. As she started to pour a little more batter onto the griddle, she stopped short once again.

Robin happened to hear a sharp intake of breath from Raven, so he looked in her direction and paused the game.

"Again?" he asked.

Raven nodded, setting the bowl of batter back down.

"Is…it painful?" asked Robin.

"No," said Raven. "It doesn't hurt. I'm just…confused. Something strange is happening. Not bad or good. Just strange. Like…the natural world has been defied."

"You can feel that?" asked Beast Boy.

"I feel everything," said Raven.

"Could have fooled me," mumbled Beast Boy, causing Cyborg to reach over the back of the couch and whack him on the back of the head.

"What do you think it could be, Raven?" asked Robin.

"I…I'm not sure," said Raven. "After I dish up your food, I should probably head back to my room and do some research."

Suddenly, the group was interrupted by a loud buzzing over the intercom, accompanied by flashing red light.

Everyone instantly stopped what they were doing.

"Titans!" yelled Robin and Cyborg. "Move!"

The team ran/flew out the door and into the city, where they eventually found what had triggered the alert: a local comic book store had several customers running away from it, and much of the store's merchandise was scattered around outside the door.

As the Titans approached, they could see one of their enemies, the overweight fanboy Control Freak, wreaking havoc. He stood proudly atop a group of mobbing shelves, all of which were turned on by his remote control. The shelves carried countless volumes of comics and memorabilia. Control Freak held onto his belly as he cackled.

"This is awesome!" yelled Control Freak. "With all these first editions, I'll make major bank!"

(A/N: Control Freak – Alexander Polinsky)

"Control Freak!" Robin yelled, getting the villain's attention. "Return those books!"

"Yo, Titans!" yelled Control Freak. "Come to see my big show?"

"Return those books!" Robin repeated.

"Sorry," said Control Freak. "Afraid I can't do that…or won't. Pick one."

Control Freak jumped off the shelf he was standing on and pointed his remote at a nearby television screen before pressing the button. The titans heard a loud chirp, and a bunch of monsters started jumping out of the screens and attacking.

Beast Boy turned to Cyborg and nodded. Cyborg kicked the cap off a nearby fire hydrant. Beast Boy opened his mouth and allowed a bunch of the water to go down his throat. He then transformed into an elephant and tried to shoot the water he had just swallowed at Control Freak. However, ontrol Freak, despite his girth, gracefully dodged out of the way and cliked his remote again, causing a window to pop out of its sil and jump right in front of him. The window lunged at Beast Boy and shattered when he dodged, leaving the pavement as its objective. Control Freak made the comic shelves run away, then animated a street light, which wound itself around Cyborg.

"Ex-squeeze me!" yelled Cyborg, trying to get out of the light's grasp.

Starfire flew over to Cyborg and pulled the street light apart.

"Azarath, Metrion, ZINTHOS!" yelled Raven.

Raven levitated a nearby trash bin, which she then thrust at Control Freak.

"Control Freak dodged again, chuckling.

"You missed me!" he taunted. "Now you gotta kiss me!"

"In your dreams," said Raven, swinging the trash bin at Control Freak.

The collision cause dthe villain to drop his remote. Obin then picked the remote up and threw it to Starfire, who crushed it in her hand.

"What?!" exclaimed Control Freak. "NO! Do you have any idea how long those things take me to make?"

"Well, you'll have plenty of time behind bars to get a start," said Robin, lifting Control Freak up by his lapel. "Cyborg, Star."

Cyborg and Starfire came up to Control Freak and each grabbed one of his arms.

Robin made a call to the Jump City police, who came and picked Control Freak up.

As the police loaded Control Freak into the car, Starfire turned to her friends.

"Now that the Control Freak has been apprehended, what shall we do?" she asked.

Cyborg looked around.

"Well, it's a nice day out," he said. "Maybe we could all hit up the park. It's not often we get to actually go out and enjoy a nice day like this."

Robin scowled.

"Does that sound agreeable to you, Robin?" asked Starfire.

Robin sighed.

"Yeah," he said. "Sure. Let's go. Go ahead and grab Silkie if you want."

In almost no time, Starfire smiled, rushed back to Titans Tower and grabbed her pet before stringing a leash to its collar and set the mutant larva on the ground.

"Come, Silkie," said Starfire. "Let us have some fun. Today is a most sunny and glorious day!"

Starfire gently coaxed Silkie with the leash. The other Titans shrugged and walked after her.

Robin closed his eyes and sniffed the air. He let the breath out through his mouth.

"It is a pretty good day," said Robin. "Control Freak went down in no time at all, and the weather's just perfect."

"Yeah," said Beast Boy. "I think I might take advantage of the sitch."

Beast Boy turned into a green Rottweiler and walked next to eht rest of the group, panting as he padded along.

"I am not cleaning up after you," said Raven, crossing her arms.

Beast Boy stopped panting and gave Raven a short growl. He then huffed and continued walking with the others.

However, everyone stopped short when they noticed Beast Boy stop panting again and freeze in place.

Everyone stopped to look back at the changeling.

"What's up, BB?" asked Cyborg.

Beast Boy then turned into a bloodhound and began sniffing the air. After a few good sniffs, he turned back to normal.

"Something's burning," he said. "I can smell smoke."

Robin scratched his chin.

"It could just be a barbecue grill," he said. "But we'd better check it out. Lead the way."

Beast Boy nodded and turned back into a bloodhound. He then took off running in the direction of the smoke.

The Titans followed Beast Boy, looking left and right as they went.

"I don't see any smoke so far," said Robin.

"Perhaps Beast Boy's nose is 'on the fritz,' yes?" asked Starfire.

"Let's just see where he leads us first," said Robin. "Better to respond to nothing than ignore a threat."

Beast Boy stopped and turned back to normal in front of a bunch of bushes.

"Guys," he said. "Through here."

He pointed through the bushes and started to creep through, gesturing for the other sto follow.

As they crept through the bushes, their objective became clear. A young boy was sitting in a clearing near the water, and in front of him was a small stream of smoke wafting up.

When the others got a closer look, they saw that the boy was wearing nothing but a pair of boxer shorts and had long, dark brown hair that went almost down to his back. He had piercing blue eyes, which were intently focused on his task. He was rolling a stick hastily between his hands, in a drilling motion on top of another stick. Smoke was starting to issue from one of the sticks, and the boy gently blew on it. The stick ignited, and the boy heaved a sigh. However, he snapped to attention when he heard a small crack.

The boy then turned toward the Titans. He picked up the knife he had nearby with his left hand and kept his right hand forward, assuming a defensive stance.

To be continued…


	2. The Letter J

The Terrible Child

By cdc100

Summary: The Teen Titans are having a peaceful Saturday when they run across someone new; someone who is lost, alone, and holds a deep, dark secret. Robin X Starfire, Possible Beast Boy X Raven and OC X Blackfire.

Disclaimer: This is a work of pure, non-profit fanfiction. More comprehensive disclaimer to c-

"I'll provide that comprehensive disclaimer for ya!" yelled a man dressed from head to toe in red spandex.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"Where are my manners?" asked the man in red. "Deadpool's the name, insanity's the game!"

(A/N: Wade Wilson/Deadpool – Ryan Reynolds)

"You know, I just went and saw your movie a week ago, and I have to say, it far surpassed my expectations," I said.

"Of course it did," said Deadpool. "You went in there worrying that that Van Wilder looking mofo wouldn't be able to pull it off."

"Well, can you blame me?" I asked. "I mean, come on. You remember how he was in _Green Lantern_ ; not to mention _X-Men Origins: Wolverine_."

"Don't you dare mention that to me again," said Deadpool.

"Sorry," I said.

Deadpool turned his attention to you.

"Okay, so, for a nice change of pace, cdc100 decided to get my help doing the disclaimer," he said.

"Actually, I was just going to-" I began.

"No, no," said Deadpool cutting me off. "Didn't you learn anything from my movie? I'm happy to help when I need to."

Deadpool cleared his throat.

"Anywho," said Deadpool. "cdc100 does NOT own anyone even having a _little_ bit to do with DC or Marvel Comics. If he did, you guys wouldn't have had to wait until freakin' Valentines' Day to see my movie! I swear, I have written so many angry letters to 20th Century Fox about that…but I digress. If you don't support the official releases of these franchises, I'll jump through the fourth wall and KICK YOUR ASS!...back to you, cdc."

I cleared my throat.

"Thanks, Deadpool," I said. "Okay, without further ado, here is chapter two."

"Hey!" cried Deadpool, clapping his hands. "You rhymed!"

I grumbled and started typing on my keyboard again.

"So," asked Deadpool. "How long do you think it'll take for them to figure out-"

"Shut UP, Wilson," I said.

 **2**

Chapter Two

"The Letter J"

The boy's piercing blue eyes darted around at the Titans. He gently moved his hands, holding the knife in a reverse grip and bracing for any incoming attack.

Robin, Cyborg and Starfire all held up their hands.

"Whoa, whoa," said Cyborg. "Easy, kid. We're not going to hurt you."

"Damn right you're not," the kid said in a low, scratchy voice.

The boy started to move in sidesteps, keeping the Titans within his sight.

"He means we're not here to hurt you," said Robin. "We just came to-"

Robin didn't get to finish, as the boy took off running from the group, scurrying through the brush ahead of him.

"Titans!" yelled Robin. "After him!"

The Titans chased after the boy. Cyborg charged through the brush while Starfire lifted Robin off the ground and flew over the trees. Raven and Beast Boy took to the skies as well, scanning the area ahead for the fleeing boy.

Starfire and Robin finally spotted the boy and flew toward him until they were just overhead.

"No more fleeing now, please!" cried Starfire. "We merely wish to speak with you!"

The boy didn't listen, and eventually stopped when he reached a clearing that consisted of a thick patch of briars and brambles, a steep cliff and a high drop into the ocean.

"Damn!" cried the boy.

He looked at the cliff and considered climbing it. Then, he considered crawling under the brambles. Finally, he looked at the ledge overlooking the ocean. He approached the ledge just as the Titans caught up to him.

The boy turned and glowered at the Titans before crossing his arms over his chest and locking his knees.

"No!" yelled Robin. "Wait!"

The boy jumped from the cliff before Robin could get another word in.

"I got him," said Beast Boy, turning into a pterodactyl and swooping down to grab the boy.

He caught the boy by the shoulders, and the boy growled in pain and frustration.

"Get off me!" yelled the boy.

The boy brought out his knife and started to swipe at Beast Boy with it. He nicked one of Beast Boy's talons, causing the changeling to let go and causing the boy to fall to the ground with a thud.

The boy groaned as he got to his feet. He looked at the cliff to find it blocked by Cyborg.

Beast Boy changed back to his regular self, jumping around and grabbing his foot.

"Dude!" yelled the changeling. "That hurt! What'd you do that for?!"

"This is your last chance," said the boy. "Let me go, or I'll seriously mess you up."

The Titans all glowered at the boy.

"You'd better watch your mouth, kid," said Cyborg. "We're not exactly number one on the list of people you want to fight with."

"Well, you're number one on the list of people in my way right now," said the boy.

Robin stepped forward.

"Let me handle this, guys," he said.

Robin then turned his attention to the boy.

"You want a fight?" he asked. "Well, now you've got one."

Robin lunged at the boy with a punch. The boy sidestepped and grabbed Robin's arm with his right, then swept his foot between robin's legs and knocked Robin's feet out from under him. He then twisted Robin's arm and brought his arm around Robin's neck before swinging Robin over his shoulder and throwing him to the ground.

Robin landed on his feet and did a backflip, aiming a kick at the boy's head, but the boy sidestepped that and grabbed the incoming leg before swinging Robin around and throwing him back away. Robin lunged again, but the boy blocked Robin's punches and jammed his palm against his throat, causing Robin to go into a coughing fit.

The boy then aimed a punch at Robin's cheek, causing him to spin around and hit the ground.

"Robin!" yelled Starfire.

The boy tried to turn and run again, but was suddenly caught in a globe of black energy.

"Let me go!" demanded the boy. "I'm serious!"

"And we're serious," said Cyborg. "Calm down."

Starfire helped Robin to his feet, and Robin examined his throat. He coughed a couple of times and cleared his throat.

"What was that?" he asked.

Raven looked up at the trapped boy and spoke.

"Listen to me," she said. "I don't know what you think is going on here, but we just came here to investigate something. We just happened to see you, and we are trying to figure things out, so we thought we would try to talk to you. I'm going to let you go, but only if you decide to talk to us."

The boy stopped struggling.

"So, if I talk to you, you'll let me go?" he asked. "I can leave?"

"I can't imagine why you'd want to, but if that's what you want, we won't stop you," she said. "But will you _please_ just talk to us first?"

The boy nodded and Raven carefully sat him down. The boy put down his knife and sat on the ground.

"Who are you guys, anyway?" asked the boy. "You don't look like any person I've ever seen before."

"I'm guessing you don't watch a lot of news," said Beast Boy.

"News?" asked the boy.

"Yeah," said Beast Boy. "We're all over it. We're the Teen Titans."

"Teen Titans?" asked the boy.

"Yeah," said Cyborg. "We're superheroes. You know, fight the bad guys, save the day?"

"Superheroes?" asked the boy. "Give me a break."

"No, for real," said Beast Boy. "We've saved the city a bunch of times."

"I'm Robin," said Robin. "These are Starfire, Beast Boy, Cyborg and Raven."

"Alright," said Cyborg. "So, why don't we start with something simple. We've introduced ourselves, but…what's your name?"

The boy looked down at the ground, then back up at the Titans.

"I don't know," he said.

The Titans' eyes widened.

"You don't know?" asked Cyborg.

"That's what I said, isn't it?" asked the boy.

"Alright," said Robin. "Well, why don't we talk about something you do know. We came over to where you were because we smelled smoke. Well, Beast Boy smelled smoke."

"How'd you do that?" asked the boy. "I didn't even get a full fire going."

"Like this," said Beast Boy.

The changeling promptly turned into a bloodhound.

"What the hell?!" exclaimed the boy.

Beast Boy changed back.

"Bloodhound," said Beast Boy. "Their noses are like a bajillion times more sensitive than a human's."

"Right," said the boy.

"Anyway, we came and saw you lighting a fire," said Robin. "What were you doing?"

"Pretty sure you just answered your own question," said the boy.

"I mean, why were you starting it?" asked Robin, scowling.

"Why?" asked the boy. "I was going to cook something."

"And you didn't think to use any of the grills in the park?" asked Cyborg.

"Park?" asked the boy. "Am I even near one of those?"

"Yeah," said Beast Boy.

The boy shrugged.

"I was just doing what I thought to do at the time," he said.

"So, what were you going to cook?" asked Raven.

"Fish," said the boy.

"Why?" asked Robin.

"I was hungry," said the boy.

"No, I mean, why were you cooking fish?" asked Robin.

"I just said I was hungry," said the boy.

"No, I mean…" Robin started. He growled under his breath before continuing. "Why weren't you cooking…like, hot dogs or burgers?"

"Didn't have one," said the boy. "Worse yet, didn't know where I could get one. But I figured the water had to have some fish in it, right? So, pretty obvious. Catch some fish."

"Why didn't you bring any food with you?" asked Raven. "If you were going on a camping trip, you should have brought some supplies."

"Camping trip?" asked the boy.

"Yeah," said Raven.

"This isn't a camping trip," said the boy. "I wouldn't even be here right now if I had any other option."

"What do you mean?" asked Starfire.

Robin rubbed his hand through his hair.

"I think we need to hear your story from the beginning," he said.

"Okay," said the boy. "Yesterday, someone told me to run as fast as I could. They put this knife in my hand and told me to get out of there. I did what they told me, running as fast as I could until I got here. When I got here, I passed out. When I woke up, I was hungry, so I went down to catch some fish."

"What were you running from?" asked Starfire.

"I don't know," said the boy.

"Why were you running from them?" asked Raven.

"Because I was told to," said the boy.

"Why did they tell you to?" asked Robin.

"I don't know," said the boy.

"Why did they give you that knife?" asked Beast Boy.

"I don't know," said the boy.

"Well, you're a truckload of information, aren't you?" asked Cyborg.

The boy scowled at Cyborg.

"Well, excuse me for not remembering anything before last night," he said.

Cyborg frowned.

"You can't remember anything?" asked Cyborg.

"That's what I just said, isn't it?" asked the boy.

The Titans all looked at each other, then back at the boy.

"What?" asked the boy.

"We're going to need a minute," said Robin, leading the other Titans off to the side.

Robin looked over at the boy one time before he started to talk.

"So, what do you guys make of this?" he asked.

"Sounds like we're dealing with amnesia," said Raven. "How old does he look to you guys?"

"If I had to guess, somewhere between 15 and 17," said Cyborg. "Way too old to have only two days' worth of memories."

"Right," said Raven. "So, either he's an amnesiac or he has some kind of disorder preventing him from remembering further back than 48 hours. Either way, it's not a good idea to leave him here by himself."

"I concur," said Starfire. "Did you see how he reacted when we attempted to speak to him at first?"

"He looked panicked," said Beast Boy. "He seemed to think we were trying to capture him or something."

"Or something," said Cyborg. "Question is, what? What could have freaked him out so bad that he'd try to defend himself the way he did. Although I have to admit, it was pretty fun watching Robin get his ass kicked for once."

Robin scowled at Cyborg before clearing his throat.

"So, what should we do?" asked Robin.

Cyborg shrugged.

"I can tell the poor kid doesn't trust us," he said. "But I think we should try to offer him help. If he says no, he says no, but let's try to give him plenty of reasons to say yes."

The teens nodded at each other then turned back to the boy, who was scraping the blade of his knife against a stone.

He looked back up as they approached.

"So?" the kid asked.

The group sat in a circle around the boy.

"Listen," said Robin. "I know we said we'd let you go, and if you want to, we won't stop you, but…"

The boy leaned in.

"But what?" he asked.

"Well…we'd like to try and help you," said Robin.

"Help me?" asked the boy.

"Yeah," said Robin. "I'm sure you're probably hungry and…well, where did you sleep last night?"

"You mean 'where did I pass out?'" asked the boy. "I fell into the grass."

"Well," said Cyborg. "If you want, we can let you stay with us. At least for a little while, you know? Not exactly a five-star hotel, but I'm sure we could find a room for you."

The boy looked down at the ground and scratched his head.

"Also, Raven cooked some pancakes earlier," said Robin. "If you ask nice, she could probably fix you some more."

"You guys don't have to cook for me," said the boy. "Look, I appreciate the offer, but…"

"Oh, please?" said Starfire. "We would feel most guilty and aggrieved if we could not ensure you are taken care of."

"Why are you guys so concerned about me?" asked the boy.

"We're superheroes," said Cyborg. "It's our job."

"Right," said the boy.

The boy took a deep breath and sighed.

"Alright," he said. "I'm not exactly sure what you guys want out of this, but…I suppose if you guys think it best, I can come with you."

Robin stood up and held a hand out to the boy.

The boy ignored Robin's hand and stood up on his own.

"Let me go grab my socks and my fish," he said.

The group followed after the boy, who led them to the place where he had set his fire up. He picked up his socks and the two fish he had caught.

"Those are the fish you caught?" asked Cyborg. "They look like they've been bitten into already. You might want to leave them there. Something might have snacked on them and given them some kind of disease."

"That was me," said the boy. "I was eating them."

Cyborg's organic eye widened.

"Raw?" he asked.

"Yeah," said the boy.

"Um…okay then," said Cyborg.

Robin took off his cape and handed it to the boy.

"Here," he said. "You can use that to cover up while we get you to our car."

"Thanks," said the boy.

As they walked, the boy looked over at Beast Boy.

"I'm sorry," he said.

Beast Boy looked quizzically at the boy.

"For what?" he asked.

"For slicing your toe," said the boy.

"Oh, dude, don't even worry about it," said Beast Boy. "I'll bounce back."

"If you say so," said the boy.

Once everyone got to the car, they piled in and Cyborg started to drive them back to Titans Tower.

"Okay, once we get back to the tower, Cyborg will get you something to eat and give you a full medical checkup, and Raven and I will try to find you some clothes," said Robin. "That work for you?"

"Fine by me," said the boy. "If you guys don't feel like cooking, I can just fry up my fish."

Once back at the tower, the group did as they said they would. Cyborg brought the boy down to the medbay and gave him a full examination. He looked the boy over and patched up any injuries he found, no matter what size. After Cyborg was done with the examination, Raven and Robin came into the medbay and handed him a pile of clothes. They gave him a pair of boots, some socks, a pair of jeans, a white t-shirt and one of Robin's leather jackets he wore when dressed as a civilian.

The boy looked at himself in the mirror, then looked over at his hosts.

"Thanks," he said. "This feels…great."

Robin smiled at him.

"You _look_ great," he said. "Now, I believe we promised you something to eat."

The Titans and their new guest went to the kitchen, where Raven made some pancakes for the boy, and the boy threw his fish onto a grill.

Robin came into the kitchen and observed the boy as he cooked his fish.

"We're not going to bust you for this, but…you should probably know that catching those fish was probably illegal," he said.

The boy shrugged.

"Laws don't mean a whole hell of a lot when it's life or death," he said.

After several minutes, he took the fish off the grill and sat on the floor. He picked up the one he caught first in both his hands and started to tear away at the fish with his teeth. The Titans looked over at the boy as he pulled scrap after scrap off the fish. The boy let out little grunts and moans as he ate, his face getting slathered with blood as he crunched.

The boy's behavior made all of the Titans quirk an eyebrow, except for Beast Boy, who made a face and bolted from the room, keeping his hand over his mouth.

Raven finished making the pancakes and set them on a plate, which she then handed to the boy.

"Here," she said.

"Thanks," said the boy.

Once the boy had picked both fish to the bone, he started eating Raven's pancakes by hand.

"Delicious," said the boy.

Cyborg scratched the organic side of his head.

"You uh…got quite the appetite, don't you?" he asked.

"I guess," said the boy.

"Hey, why don't you come into the living room with us?" asked Robin.

The Titans made room for the boy in the center of the couch. The boy shrugged and sat in between them, still holding onto his food.

"What's up?" asked the boy.

"We'd like to try and help you," said Robin. "I realize you didn't originally plan on coming here, but we couldn't very well leave you the way we found you."

The boy sighed.

"I realize that," said the boy. "If you're superheroes like you said, then it kind of fell within the realm of your responsibilities to help."

"Good," said Robin. "I'm glad we understand each other."

The boy nodded.

"So, what exactly was your plan?" he asked.

"Well, what we do depends entirely on you," said Cyborg. "Before we decide on anything, we thought it was only fair that we have a good, long conversation about you and what's been going on."

"Right," said the boy.

"So, do you mind if we just ask you some questions?" asked Raven.

The boy shrugged.

"Ask away," he said.

"You said that the first thing you remember is being on the run?" asked Robin.

"Pretty much," said the boy.

"Any idea what you might have been on the run from?" asked Cyborg.

"Not a one," said the boy.

"Alright, well, what exactly was your plan after you ate?" asked Robin.

"Well," said the boy, "I had no idea where I was, so I figured the smart thing would be to find some shelter and then try to get some information about this place. I didn't know how I was going to accomplish that, looking the way I did."

"You mean…in nothing but your underwear?" asked Raven.

"I may not remember much, but even I know you shouldn't just parade around looking like I did," said the boy. "Problem was, there wasn't really…damn it, why didn't I think of the beach? Is there a beach around here?"

"Yeah, there is," said Beast Boy, as he came back into the living room.

The boy growled under his breath.

"Well, my idea was to take you to the police and see if we could get somebody on your case looking for anybody who might know you," said Robin. "What do you think of that idea?"

"Not the best," said the boy. "If someone was chasing after me like I thought, then they're probably still out there and just waiting for their chance to get me. My best bet is to stay under the radar."

"Good point," said Robin. "The other option would be for you to stay here until we can figure out a better long-term solution."

"Suits me fine," said the boy. "But what about you? I don't have any way to pay for room or board."

Robin scratched his chin.

"I think we could treat this as a _pro bono_ case," said Robin.

"Yeah," said Cyborg. "We can make it a pet project of ours."

"Interesting idea," said the boy.

"I have another idea," said Starfire.

"What's up, Star?" asked Robin.

"You remember your fight earlier, yes?" asked Starfire.

"I sure do," said Cyborg. "Bird Boy got knocked for a loop by a kid in boxer shorts."

Robin scowled at Cyborg.

"Perhaps if he were to train with us, work with us, we might be able to help him regain his memory," said Starfire. "That way, he will not have to feel bad about staying here."

"You might be onto something, Starfire," said Robin.

"I suppose it couldn't hurt," said the boy.

"Before we do anything else, we've got to address the elephant in the room," said Beast Boy.

"To which pachyderm do you refer, Beast Boy?" asked Starfire.

"We're dealing with someone here who has no past, no memories, no clothes and no name," said Beast Boy. "The kid's a regular Jason Bourne."

"Well, at least you guys didn't have to pull me out of the ocean," said the kid.

"Dude!" exclaimed Beast Boy. "You know who Jason Bourne is!"

"I do?" asked the kid. "Holy crap. I do. How's that possible?"

Cyborg looked over at the boy.

"We're probably dealing with a specific type of amnesia," said Cyborg. "A kind where basic things like how to talk, how to read, who the president is, are retained, but stuff like name, job, favorite color, are out the window."

"Anyway," said Beast Boy, "my point is…we need to think of something to call you."

"I see," said the boy. "Anything come to mind?"

"Well, there's Jason," said Beast Boy. "Doesn't sound very original, though."

"Maybe not," said the boy. "But I think you're onto something. I like the letter J."

"Well, how about we just call you J for now?" asked Beast Boy. "Just until we can figure out your real name."

The boy nodded.

"Works for me," he said.

(A/N: J – David Hayter)

"Alright, J," said Robin. "I think you've been through enough today, so if you'd like to get some rest, we can show you to a room here."

"No need," said J. "I'm guessing any room that's not labeled with your names isn't in use?"

"Yeah," said Robin. "Pretty much."

"Well, in that case, I'll just find something myself," said J. "Anything's got to be better than wet grass."

J turned and left the room, leaving the Titans to talk.

"He is…odd, yes?" asked Starfire.

"Dude can't remember anything earlier than last night," said Cyborg. "How normal would any of us be in that situation?"

"Cyborg's right," said Raven. "You hear of amnesia doing weird stuff to a person. Changes in personality, different tastes in music, different favorite foods, you name it."

"So, wait," said Beast Boy. "I could get conked on the head and suddenly want turn into a carnivore?"

"Did you really just ask that, BB?" asked Cyborg.

"I wonder what he was like before he lost his memory," said Robin. "If we knew that, it might give us a better idea on how to help him."

"Or it might make things worse," said Raven. "If a person is reintroduced to their original identity too suddenly, their mind might reject it permanently. I think it'd be best if we all try to discover his identity together. If we learn with him, we might be able to help him come to terms with it."

Robin nodded.

"Right," said Robin. "How about we have him spar with us tomorrow in the gym? Think that would be too much too soon?"

"Maybe," said Raven. "Maybe not. We saw what he did this morning. Fighting might help, or it might just cause problems."

"I think it's worth a go," said Cyborg. "I don't know how you lose more memories than…all of them."

As the Titans spoke, J went to a room toward the end of the Titans' residential areas, and opened the door. Inside was fairly basic. It contained a made bed with pillows and blankets. The boy took off the jacket Robin let him borrow and draped it over himself as he lay down. He rolled over and pushed his impossibly long hair over his shoulder before falling to sleep, deciding to cut it in the morning.

To be continued…


	3. Inner Strength

The Terrible Child

By cdc100

Summary: The Teen Titans are having a peaceful Saturday when they run across someone new; someone who is lost, alone, and holds a deep, dark secret. Robin X Starfire, Possible Beast Boy X Raven and OC X Blackfire.

Disclaimer: This is a work of pure, non-profit fanfiction. I don't own anything related to DC comics. If I did, _Teen Titans Go!_ would have been based on the comics rather than a series of chibi fiascoes.

 **3**

Chapter Three

"Inner Strength"

 _"Don't you die on me, damn it!"  
_ _"You enjoy all the killing, that's why!"  
_ _"What was she fighting for? What am_ I _fighting for? What are_ you _fighting for?!"  
_ _"If we make it through this, I'll tell you."  
_ _"Now go! Let the legend come back to life!"  
_ _"Goodbye, Father! I don't need you anymore!"  
_ _"Fighting was the only thing…the_ only _thing I was good at…but at least I always fought for what I believed in…"  
_ _"You're pretty good!"  
_ _"This war…is peace."  
_ _"I was made to fight. I_ am _a gun."  
_ _"She's dead…"  
_ _"Good news is, you're still in the land of the living. Bad news? The whole world wants you dead."  
_ _"This is your fault! They're dead because of you!"  
_ _"Come on, start talking, bitch! Come on, get up and start talking!"  
_ _"I'm no hero…never was. Never will be.  
_ _"If you move, we're dead! Blend in with the bodies!"  
_ _"What took you so long?"  
_ _"She was a real hero. She was a true patriot."_

J woke up. He stared at the ceiling through half-lidded eyes, then clenched his eyes shut and slowly shook his head. He twisted his neck to both sides, and heard a dull _crunch_ as he adjusted it.

J lay in bed for a few minutes before looking at the clock on the wall. According to it, it was 3:40 in the morning; long before anybody would be up. He yawned loudly before getting out of bed and padding to the living room from his newly-claimed "room."

J looked out the large living room window to see that it was indeed still dark outside. He could just barely see the lights of the city reflecting off the water in the distance. Suddenly, he felt his stomach start to growl and went to the refrigerator to retrieve some food. Inside, he found two large sticks of salami, which he immediately pulled out and started to eat.

J held the two logs of meat in his hands and alternated eating the one in his left hand and the one in his right. As he ate, he pulled off chunks of the substance with his teeth like an animal. As he ate, he heard something echo from nearby.

 _"Azarath, metrion, zinthos…Azarath, metrion, zinthos…Azarath, metrion, zinthos…"_

J took the two sticks away from his mouth, then took out his knife. He crouched down and walked in the direction of the noise.

 _"Azarath, metrion, zinthos…Azarath, metrion, zinthos…Azarath, metrion, zinthos…"_

J kept approaching the sound, but held his stance, slowly creeping up to the noise. He turned his head slightly to hear better. The voice sounded low and slightly raspy.

Eventually, he came to the source of the noise. Closer to the window was Raven, floating it mid-air and holding a lotus position. J confirmed that the chanting was indeed coming from her. He turned around to go back to the kitchen.

"You're up early," the voice of Raven said.

J stopped walking in response to Raven's statement.

"Bad dream," he said. "Well, not really bad."

"What do you mean?" asked Raven.

"It was just a bunch of…noise," said J. "I couldn't really derive anything from it."

"What kind of noise?" asked Raven, turning to fully face J.

"People," said J. "Talking. It was just a…stream of words."

"That's it?" asked Raven. "Nothing specific?"

"A bunch of different people," said J. "Each of them said something that seemed familiar somehow. I couldn't get anything else."

"I see," said Raven.

"I wondered if maybe they were memories," said J.

"And you have no way of knowing whether you're right or they were just fantasies caused by the blackout," said Raven.

"Sounds about right," said J.

Raven nodded.

"Well, there's not really much you can do about it now," she said. "We can talk to Robin about it when everyone's up."

J shrugged.

"I don't see any problem with that," he said. "So what are you going to do?"

"I'm going to keep at my meditation," said Raven. "You should probably go and try to get more sleep if you can."

J nodded and turned to leave.

"Oh, and I won't tell Cyborg about the salami," said Raven.

J shook his head and went back to his room. He sat up in bed and munched on the salami logs. As he ate, he looked at a mirror on the far wall. In the reflection, he saw a boy with pale skin, piercing blue eyes and dark brown hair that reached past his shoulders. He also had stubble that was starting to come in all over his face.

As he finished with one stick of the salami, J picked his knife back up and brought it up to his head. He grabbed hold of the back of his hair and pulled up, creating space between his hair and his back. He then brought the blade up, severing his hair just above his hand. He let the severed hair fall to the floor before bringing his knife back to his bed. His hair was now short in the front and long in the back. It wasn't ridiculously long, but long enough to cover the back of his neck.

After finishing his other salami stick, he started to look around the room. He had been too tired to look at it the previous night, having been too tired. On one of the few pieces of furniture in the room, he found a small, blue object. Upon closer examination, he discovered it was a barrette. It was in the shape of a blue butterfly.

J reached forward to touch the object, but before he got close enough to touch it, he saw a flash of light and in place of the barrette was a small, shiny blue butterfly. It flew up to J and flitted around a couple of times before doing a lap around his room. As the butterfly flew, J heard a loud noise that sounded like blades cutting air. He recognized it as the sound of a helicopter flying overhead.

The noise ceased as the butterfly finished its lap around his room, then returned to the table in front of him. In another flash of light, the butterfly disappeared, and was replaced with the barrette, in the same spot it had been.

J reached out and took the barrette. He went back to the bed and looked down at the object pensively.

J ran his thumb along the teeth of the barrette, then over the butterfly shape on the top. J lay back in bed and kept examining the barrette. He eventually made it back to sleep, the barrette dropping from his hand as he drifted off.

 _"Don't you die on me, damn it!"  
_ _"She's dead…"  
_ _"What was she fighting for? What am_ I _fighting for? What are_ you _fighting for?!"  
_ _"I was made to fight. I_ am _a gun."_

J got up from his bed again and rubbed his head. He found the barrette he had been examining on top of the comforter and put it in the pocket of his pants with the knife he had been using. He went down to the door that led to the living room and entered. Surprisingly, he found the sun up and a few of the Titans moving about the area, getting ready for the day.

When he entered, J caught the attention of Starfire.

"Good morning, friend J," she said. "How are you feeling today?"

"Alright, I guess," said J.

The others looked toward J in response to Starfire's announcement.

"Dude," said Beast Boy. "You…did something with your hair."

"What of it?" asked J.

"It…looks good," said Cyborg.

"Yeah," said Beast Boy. "I don't usually care that much for mullets, but that's a pretty sweet 'do, dude."

"Thanks, I guess," said J.

"Would you like to partake in the breaking of the fast?" asked Starfire. "Cyborg has made a delicious ham with unfertilized earthen poultry."

"Ham and eggs, huh?" asked J. "I don't see why not."

Cyborg laughed.

"Got another carnivore in the house," he said. "You better call for backup, BB!"

Beast Boy rolled his eyes and returned to his food.

"Tofu?" asked J.

"Yeah," said Beast Boy. "I've been most of the animals that get eaten, so…"

"Not a meat eater, huh?" asked J.

"Nope," said Beast Boy.

J sat at the table with Cyborg, Starfire and Raven before taking the plate in front of him and piling on a few slices of ham and a few eggs.

"Over medium," said J. "Just the way I like them."

"Hey," said Cyborg. "Look at that. You're making progress."

"What?" asked J.

"You know how you like your eggs," said Cyborg.

J shrugged.

"I guess so," said J. "Doesn't say a whole lot about me, though, does it?"

"Baby steps, little man," said Cyborg. "Can't expect everything to make sense at once."

"Guess not," said J.

J started eating the food on his plate and cleared it in no time. After he was done, he had a couple more eggs and another slice of ham.

"Where are you putting all of that?" asked Raven.

"My stomach, I would assume," said J.

Raven rolled her eyes.

"Never mind," she said.

"What?" asked J.

"I said never mind," said Raven.

J shrugged and went back to his food. After he finished it all, he took his plate to the sink and rinsed it off.

"So what are we doing?" asked J, coming back into the living room.

"Waiting for Robin to come," said Beast Boy. "When he gets here, he'll eat something and then probably make us practice."

"Practice what?" asked J.

"We have a place we can spar," said Cyborg. "We have all the equipment you need to get a good workout."

"A full gym, huh?" asked J. "I suppose I could enjoy that."

"Robin probably wants a chance to pay you back for the beatin' you gave him yesterday," said Cyborg.

"He can try," said J.

Cyborg chuckled.

"I like you, kid," he said. "Do you want some kind of outfit to spar in?"

"What's wrong with what I've got on?" asked J.

"Nothing, if you want to walk around sweaty and smelly all day," said Cyborg.

"Guess I'd better change, then," said J. "Stench and survival don't mix."

Cyborg nodded.

"That's what I thought," he said. "Our gym has a locker room. There should be something in there in your size."

"Great," said J. "When do we go?"

"Now," said the voice of Robin as he came through the door. "Let's go, team."

The Titans cleared their plates and went through the door to the training room.

J followed the Titans to the gym, where each of them got on their own equipment. Robin picked one of the punching bags while Starfire and Cyborg each got on one of the weight machines. Beast Boy turned into a cheetah and got on one of the treadmills. Raven went over to join Cyborg and Starfire on one of the weight machines. Having observed the Titans each doing their own thing, he elected to use one of the practice dummies.

As the Titans all worked out, J looked around the room. He nodded in acknowledgment to the incredible feats the Titans were pulling off. He pretended to be attacked by the dummy and dealt blows in "return." He moved around the dummies as though he were dodging them or getting behind them. He moved his hands in twisting motions and thrust his palm toward the target, then punched the target where its head would be.

After a while, Robin came over to him and cleared his throat.

"Hey," said J, continuing on the dummy.

"I happened to see some of your moves," said Robin. "You fight like you've been doing it for years."

"Maybe I have," said J. "I don't know."

"I would guess so," said Robin. "Your moves are…pretty polished. But they're different from most of the martial arts styles I've seen."

"Different how?" asked J.

"Well, it looks like that style is meant for quick finishes," said Robin. "In our line of work, that typically doesn't happen. We need to be prepared for long battles."

"Long battles," said J. "I see."

"Maybe sometime or other I can give you some lessons in other styles," said Robin. "What would you think about that?"

"You're the boss," said J.

J and Robin went back to their respective equipment. After an hour or so, the group broke up and got showered and changed.

"Good job, everyone," said Robin. "One hour later tomorrow."

As the group made their way back to the living room, J quickened his pace to catch up with Robin and Raven floated toward them in order to join them as well. Robin took notice of J and Raven's presence, and turned to look at them both.

"What's up?" he asked.

"J and I need to talk to you," said Raven.

"What about?" Robin asked, stopping in his tracks.

"J woke up early this morning with some…interesting news," said Raven. "We thought you might have some input."

"What happened?" Robin asked, turning to J.

"I had a dream," said J. "I heard people talking. I couldn't really tell who was saying it, or who or what they were talking about. It was just noise. I couldn't really get anything from it."

"What were they saying?" asked Robin.

"A bunch of different things," said J. "War…death…legends…nothing's really clear. It was clear they were talking about something, or…someone."

"Did anything seem familiar to you at all?" asked Robin.

"Somehow, but…I can't figure out how," said J. "It's still fuzzy."

"I suppose that's to be expected," said Raven. "Unfortunately, remembering your dreams is one of those things that gets harder the older you get."

 _"Unfortunately, killing is one of those things that gets easier the more you do it."_

"What'd you say?" asked J.

"I said, remembering your dreams-" began Raven.

"No, after that," said J.

Raven and Robin looked at each other.

"Neither of us said anything after that," said Robin. "Are you…feeling okay?"

J shook his head and scratched the back of it. He nodded his head at the two teens.

"Yeah," he said. "I'm fine. Just confused is all."

"We'll figure out a way to help," said Robin. "Don't worry."

"I'm not," said J. "I'm more concerned with staying alive."

Robin nodded.

"Well, as long as you stick with us, you won't have to worry about that," he said.

"Isn't it a risk to your life every time you 'save the city?'" asked J.

"Well, yeah," said Robin. "But we have done that hundreds of times."

"If not thousands," said Raven.

J nodded back to the two teens.

"I see your point," he said.

As the three began to walk back, J spoke up again.

"So, what's next on the agenda?" he asked.

Suddenly, they were interrupted by a loud blaring over the intercom, accompanied by flashing red lights.

"Trouble," said Robin.

Robin, Raven and J scrambled to the living room, where they found Cyborg, Starfire and Beast Boy at the terminal by the TV/window.

"Report," said Robin. "What's happening?"

"Bank robbery," said Cyborg. "It's in the plaza."

"Who is it?" asked Beast Boy. "Dr. Light? Killer Moth? Mumbo?"

"What are all those?" asked J. "Nom de guerres?"

"You're close," said Cyborg. "They're monikers that a bunch of our rogues gallery members have taken for themselves. Those are just a few."

"They sound like a colorful bunch of folks," said J.

"Anyway, BB, no," said Cyborg. "It doesn't look like anybody major. Not even Andre Le Blanc."

"Small time crooks," said Beast Boy. "This should be a cakewalk."

"Yes!" exclaimed Starfire. "I believe friend J might even be able to help us with this."

"How do you figure?" asked J.

"Well, most of us have powers," said Cyborg. "Half of me is mechanical, Raven has psychic powers, Beast Boy can turn into any animal he wants, and Starfire is super strong and can project energy at will. The only one of us who doesn't really need to hold back is Robin. If you want to help, that makes two."

"Why would you need to hold back?" asked J. "They're criminals, right?"

"Because more often than not, these smaller ones don't have any powers," said Cyborg.

"Still not understanding why you'd need to hold back," said J. "They need to pay, right?"

"Right," said Robin. "But in order for them to pay, they have to be in good condition. Meaning, no fatalities."

"Well, if there are fatalities, that's just the price they pay, right?" asked J. "And they'd have no problem killing us, would they?"

The Titans looked at J with wide eyes.

"What?" he asked.

"Well, the thing is, J…" Robin said, approaching him, "if we were willing to do everything that criminals were willing to do, we would be no better than them. They need to pay for their crimes, but they need to do it under the judgment of the courts, not our own. Besides, it might be illegal to rob a bank, but it's also illegal to kill someone. You understand?"

J shrugged.

"I guess that's true," said J. "Just seems kind of disproportionate, I guess."

"Believe me," said Robin, placing a hand on J's shoulder, "we say the same thing at least once a week."

"Well, not in those exact words," said Raven.

"What Robin means is, there are criminals who would stoop to that level, and a lot of the time, we wonder why we let them go on with what they're doing," said Cyborg. "The only reason we don't is because we're heroes. That means saving people who need saved. It's not our place to pass judgment on people who break the law."

J nodded.

"I see," he said. "Well, if you guys want to save the people who need saved at the bank, we'd better get moving. How do we get there?"

* * *

In no time at all, the Titans drove up to the bank in the T-Car and R-Cycle.

"So, why isn't this thing called the C-Car?" asked J as the group dismounted and landed.

"We can talk about that later," said Cyborg. "For now, let's kick some butt."

J nodded and the group approached the bank, which was surrounded by patrol cars. In front of the cars was a group of police officers. Robin approached the officers and spoke to them.

"Robin," said one officer. "It's good that you're all here."

"What's the situation?" asked Robin.

"We've got a bunch of robbers holed up in there with at least thirty hostages," said the officer. "They're threatening to kill them if the police intervene."

J scowled.

"Have they given any demands yet?" asked Robin.

"No," said the officer. "I think they just want to buy some time before they make off with everybody's money."

"If that's the case, they probably don't plan on letting the hostages go," said Raven.

"So this isn't a hostage negotiation," said J. "It's a rescue mission."

The officer looked toward J.

"Who is this?" the officer asked.

"He's a friend of ours," said Robin. "He came to help."

"Any friend of the Titans is a friend of mine," said the officer.

Robin and rallied the Titans and addressed them.

"We need a plan," said Robin. "This isn't how I pictured it. We're playing a whole different ball game here."

J nodded.

"The way I see it, stealth is the best approach," he said. "We go in without any of them noticing, neutralize the crooks and free the hostages."

Before Robin could say anything else, J broke away from the group and called out.

"Does anyone here have some binoculars I can borrow?"

An officer came up to J and handed him a pair of binoculars, which he then took and used to scope the building. Inside, he could see several goons with guns, walking amongst a group of hostages with bags over their heads.

"AK-74us," said J. "What the hell are these guys doing with Russian assault rifles?"

The Titans looked at each other, then back at J.

"They'll probably have a guy watching the security cameras," said J. "And if they haven't presented any demands yet, they might have already killed a hostage."

Starfire put a hand over her mouth.

"There are three sentries watching the hostages," said J. "Cameras. Two outside the door...and a few on the sides of the building."

J put the binoculars down for a moment and looked back at Raven.

"Raven, can you lift me?"

"Yeah," said Raven. "How far?"

"As far as you can," said J.

"O…kay…" she said. "Azarath, Metrion, Zinthos…"

A cloud of black energy placed itself under J and levitated him into the air. J lay flat on the cloud and used the binoculars to peer down on the roof. After a minute or two, Raven sat him back down on the ground.

"I'm not seeing any security cameras on the roof," said J. "That's our best bet for a point of entry."

Robin crossed his arms.

"You seem like you're already planning something," he said. "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking you, me, Cyborg and Beast Boy go while Starfire and Raven sit this one out," said J. "A small group will be harder to spot, especially if one of them stays on the roof and the other one can turn into the smallest animals of all."

J turned to Starfire and Raven.

"Starfire will throw us on the roof and Raven will slow our descent," he said. "Cyborg will stay on the roof and break into the bank's systems while you, Beast Boy and I will go in and work on taking back the bank."

Robin nodded.

"Okay," he said. "This isn't normally our style, but you seem to have thought this through. I give you credit for that. Alright, J. We'll do it your way."

J nodded.

"So, who's going first?" asked Beast Boy.

J walked over to Starfire.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Starfire.

"Yeah," said J. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I hope you don't throw like a girl."

"But…I am a girl," said Starfire.

"It's an expression, Starfire," said J. "Okay, go for it."

Starfire grabbed J and threw him up high. After reaching the top of the arc, J started to descend on the roof of the building. Raven took hold of J just in time and slowly lowered him the rest of the way to the roof.

J slowly tiptoed over the roof as he waited for Beast Boy and Robin. Robin was next to come, followed shortly by a screaming Beast Boy, who only stopped screaming when he felt Raven's powers engulf him and lower him to the building.

"Okay," he said. "Why did I not just fly over?"

"Couldn't tell you," said J. "You're the shapeshifter."

Cyborg appeared on the roof soon after Beast Boy, also screaming. He followed Beast Boy's example and stopped screaming when he felt Raven slow his descent.

"Alright," said Cyborg. "Now that I'm officially freaked out, what now?"

"We'll need you to stay on the roof and break into the bank's system," said J. "Can you do that without being noticed?"

"Never met a system I couldn't hack," said Cyborg.

 _"I've never met a system I couldn't break into,"_ said a voice in J's head.

J shook his head and cleared his throat.

"Good," he said. "Alright. While you take care of that, Robin, Beast Boy and I will go in and take care of the crooks."

"Hold up," said Cyborg.

"What is it?" asked J.

Cyborg opened one of his secret compartments and took out a small device.

"Here," said Cyborg, holding it out. "You'll need one of these."

J took it from Cyborg.

"What is it?" he asked.

"It's an earwig," said Cyborg. "It's a listening device that stimulates the small bones of your ears, so only you-"

"Will be able to hear it," said J. "Right. I got it. Thanks."

Cyborg quirked his organic eyebrow.

"Are you sure you're feeling alright, J?" he asked.

"About as okay as an amnesiac can be," J said, putting the earwig in. "I'll be fine. Let's move."

J went over to the door on the roof and tried it.

"Anybody have any lock picks?" he asked. "A bobby pin and paper clip? Anything?"

Robin snapped his fingers and a couple of skeleton keys popped out of the index fingers of his gloves. He used the two keys to work the lock and open the door.

"Alright," said J. "Beast Boy, turn into something small and quiet. We'll need you to scout ahead and gather intel."

Beast Boy got on the floor and turned into a mouse. He skittered along the floor and made his way down the stairs. Robin and J slowly followed. J crouched down and kept close to any walls. He peeked around corners as he went. Eventually, he heard Beast Boy's voice come through on his earwig.

"There are two guards up ahead," he said. "You won't be able to get further unless you take them out."

"Right," said J. "How far ahead?"

"Go down the hall, take a left, go down and they'll be on your first right," said Beast Boy. "You'll need to figure out a way past them."

J gestured for Robin to follow and kept close to the wall. Soon, the duo came upon the location of the two guards.

The guards were both wearing black balaclavas and black fatigues with bulletproof vests, and carrying assault rifles. J gestured for Robin to stand back, he then lunged at one guard and slammed his head into the nearby wall before doing the same to the other guard. The two guards fell to the floor in a heap, their weapons clattering to the floor next to them.

"You know, you'd almost swear this is a military operation of some kind," said J.

Robin merely stared at J.

"What?" asked J.

"Nothing," said Robin.

"Alright," said J. "Well, let's see what we can figure out about these guys."

J got to work dismantling one of the AK's. Robin started to dismantle the other one when J held out his hand.

"Wait," he said.

Robin stopped what he was doing and J dismantled the AK he was holding before moving on to the man's sidearm. He pocketed several of the pieces to both weapons, including the magazines. He then turned to Robin and took the AK that he was holding and slung it over his shoulder.

He then reached down into the other guard's vest and pulled out several items, including his radio, his sidearm, spare magazines, suppressors, and spare rounds. He took out a couple of suppressors and attached them to the weapons.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" asked Robin.

"Denying the enemy ammunition," said J.

He then took the man's radio and placed it on his belt. Then, he took the other man's radio out and shot it with the silenced sidearm.

"And communication," said J.

"Are you out of your mind?" asked Robin. "I told you, we can't kill these people."

"I know that," said J.

"Then why?" asked Robin.

"You know you can fire a weapon at someone without killing them, right?" asked J.

Robin scowled.

"I don't like this," said Robin.

"Well, I don't like that armed gunmen have a bunch of hostages with bags over their heads in the lobby," said J, cocking the AK and the sidearm. "So, we're all making sacrifices today."

"You know what I mean," said Robin. "I know you're fully capable of taking these people down without using firearms."

"Using a firearm can sometimes be more useful than your bare hands," said J. "Look, every second we argue is a second one of those hostages could get one of these through their heads."

As he said this, J held up a 5.56 round.

"Now, do you want to argue about the ethics of gun use, or do you want to save some civilians?" asked J.

Robin sighed.

"Fine," he said. "But don't think we're not going to discuss this later."

"Duly noted," said J. "Now, let's go."

As they walked, J examined the sidearm he picked up.

"A 1911A1," he said. "Nice."

"Pardon?" asked Robin.

"This is a 1911A1 chambered for .45 ACP," said J. "Looks like a seven-round mag, plus one in the chamber, for a total of eight. One of the best guns to avoid accidentally hurting anyone."

Robin grumbled.

"What about intentionally hurting anyone?" asked Robin.

J kept walking and leveled the sidearm in front of him.

"Robin, I will admit, I don't know why I know anything about these firearms or even how to use them," said J. "But neither do you, and you're already assuming the worst."

"That's because a situation with a firearm never turns out well for anyone," said Robin.

"Okay, you know what?" asked J. "I'm going to point out everything wrong with your logic later. Right now, those hostages need us."

"Fine," said Robin.

"This is Beast Boy," said Beast Boy's voice. "Can you hear me?"

"What's up, Beast Boy?" asked Robin.

"I'm wondering where you guys are," said Beast Boy.

"Me and J took care of the guards," said Robin. "We're on our way to the main area."

"Okay," said Beast Boy. "I'll keep looking and keep you posted. But you'd better hurry. I have no idea how much longer it'll be before these guys make a demonstration."

"Any security cameras ahead?" asked J.

"Yeah," said Beast Boy. "You'll come up to a hallway that goes left and right. There's one on the left end and one on the right."

"Right," said J. "Cyborg, you there?"

"What's up, little man?" asked Cyborg's voice.

"We're coming up on two surveillance cameras," said J. "Can you freeze all the camera frames?"

"Give me a minute," said Cyborg.

J and Robin waited.

"Okay," said Cyborg. "You're invisible."

"Thanks, Cyborg," said J. "Let's get a move on."

"We'll want to keep low like we've been doing," said Robin.

"I know," said J.

"I figured you knew," said Robin. "For all the stuff you're doing right now, you seem to know what you're doing. I still have reservations on the firearms, but I at least give you credit for that."

"Gee, thanks," said J.

J looked around a corner for guards, and gestured for Robin to follow when he found none.

"The guys I knocked out haven't reported back in a while," said J. "Their buddies will probably go looking for them any minute. We need to be ready when they do."

"We'll hang back and take care of them as they come out the door," said Robin.

"Right," said J.

Sure enough, immediately after that, J and Robin heard one of the guards cry out.

"You!" said the guard. "Go look for those two dumbasses. See what's taking them so long."

Two of the guards broke away from the lobby and started toward Robin and J. The duo hid behind the walls near the door surprised each of the guards as they came in, each of them slamming their own target's head into a nearby wall.

J wasted no time in scavenging the fallen men for their equipment.

J gestured for Robin to follow him out of the hall and into the main lobby. J stayed crouched, looking around corners for the robbers.

"I count three," he whispered to Robin. "When they notice those two gone, they'll probably do something drastic."

"So, what's your brilliant plan?" asked Robin.

J took out one of the spare magazines in his pocket and emptied it.

"I'll run interference," he said.

J then took the magazine and threw it overhand toward a wall on the other end of the room, where it impacted with a clatter.

This caught all three robbers' attention. One of them, presumably the leader, yelled to the other two.

"Check out that noise!" he yelled.

The two other robbers ran in the direction of the clatter.

"Okay," said J. "Now's our chance. Come on."

J and Robin went into the main room of the bank and saw the man by himself, his gun trained on one of the hostages. J and Robin snuck around the counter in the center of the room and came up behind the robber. J holstered his sidearm and took off his AK, which he immediately jammed into the back of the robber.

"Don't move," said J, retreating the barrel away from the robber.

"What the-" began the robber.

"Shut up," said J. "Drop your weapon."

The man slowly lowered his rifle to the floor.

"Now, talk," said J.

"What the hell's going on here?" asked the robber.

"I said talk, not ask questions," said J. "What are you doing here?"

"We're robbing the place," said the man. "You blind?"

"I can see you're robbing the place," said J. "Why?"

"We need it," said the man. "We're desperate. We need the money."

"No grand scheme, huh?" asked J. "Alright, then."

J shouldered his AK again, then brought one arm around the robber's neck while clamping the other one to the back of his neck. After a few seconds, the robber passed out, and J set him gently on the floor.

J turned to Robin.

"Can you handle those two if they come back?" he asked.

"I should be able to," said Robin.

"Good," said J. "We need to take care of anybody else who might be in here. There'll probably still be someone by the vaults and in the monitor room. I'll take care of them. Beast Boy, where are you?"

As he spoke, J started in the direction of the vaults.

"I'm in the air ducts," said Beast Boy. "There I can smell three people. One in the monitor room, and two by the vaults."

"Alright," said J, continuing to the vaults. "Handle the guys in the monitor room. I'm going for the guys in the vaults."

"If you say so," said Beast Boy.

With that, J proceeded to the vault. He looked around a nearby corner and saw the vault door opened. As he approached, he was surprised as two masked men came out, carrying bundles of cash.

"Crap!" yelled one of the robbers.

Before either of them had the chance to react, J pulled his AK off and fired two shots at the robbers – one at each of their shoulders – and then rushed forward to bash them both in the head with the stock of his rifle.

"Dude!" said the voice of Beast Boy over the radio. "I heard suppressed gunfire. You okay?"

"I'm fine, Beast Boy," said J. "I've taken care of the goons in the vault. What's your status?"

"Let's just say the human skull wasn't built to withstand the backhand of a gorilla," said Beast Boy.

"Good," said J. "I'll get these goons and bring them back to the lobby."

* * *

Starfire and Raven stood outside with the police, watching the front door of the bank. Raven leaned against a patrol car with her arms crossed, and Starfire clasped her hands over your chest.

"Do you believe that our friends are alright?" asked Starfire.

"It's just a bunch of normal bank robbers," said Raven. "I'm sure they're just fine. If they weren't, they'd have called for our help by now."

Soon, the front doors of the bank opened, and all the hostages came clamoring out into the streets and toward the police vehicles, which, by now, had civilians and news crews around them. Many of the people in the bank came out and embraced the gathered civilians, who were presumably family members and loved ones. Amid all the hostages, J, Robin, Beast Boy and Cyborg all walked out, each of them carrying some of the robbers over their backs.

When the teens came out, they roughly tossed their robbers on the ground and waited for the Jump City Police to retrieve them.

Starfire and Raven hastily flew up to the group.

"Friends!" exclaimed Starfire. "You are well!"

Starfire floated up to Robin and hugged him. Everyone saw a huge blush spread over Robin's cheeks.

While the Titans all congratulated each other on a mission accomplished, J fished something out of his chest pocket, which he had scavenged from one of the robbers: a pack of cigarettes. He placed one between his lips and pulled out a cigarette lighter. He lit the cigarette and took a long drag from it, which he let out in a long wisp over his head.

The Titans looked over at J with narrowed eyes.

"What…are you doing?" asked Cyborg.

"Smoking," said J.

"Those things are bad for you, you know," said Raven.

"Well, so are gunfights," said J, taking another drag.

After the robbers were taken care of, several officers of Jump City's police approached the Titans, led by a woman with long, feathery blonde hair, wearing large, dark aviator sunglasses. She smiled at the group.

"You guys must be the infamous Teen Titans," she said. "I was wondering when I'd get to see you in action. I didn't think it'd be this soon."

The Titans turned to look at the woman, including J, who regarded her with a furrowed brow. The woman came up to J and indicated the weapons he salvaged from the robbers.

"A couple of the robbers suffered gun shot wounds," said the woman. "Were they your doing?"

"Yeah," said J.

"Well, you shot them in hopes of saving the bank, so I don't think you'll get in trouble for it, but…I'd appreciate if you send those in with me," she said.

J took out the sidearm he found and handed it and the AK over to the woman.

"Thank you," said the woman. "That was some pretty fancy shooting."

"Well, it seems the Titans have a pretty strict 'no fatalities' policy, so…" J trailed off.

The other Titans came closer to J and the woman.

"You know this lady?" asked Beast Boy.

"Nope," said J. "Never seen her before in my life."

"Who are you, anyway?" asked Cyborg.

"Oh, my manners," said the woman. "I seem to have misplaced them."

The woman extended her hand to the Titans.

"My name is Catherine Miller," she said. "I'm the Jump City Police Department's new senior drill instructor."

(A/N: Catherine Miller – Michelle Ruff)

"Nice to meet you, Officer Miller," said Robin, shaking the woman's hand.

"Please," she said. "Call me Cat."

"Well, Cat, as you've guessed, these are the Teen Titans," said Robin. "This is Cyborg, Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy and our new friend J."

"It's a pleasure to meet each of you," said Cat. "Well, not completely."

"What do you mean by that?" Cyborg asked with a slight scowl.

"Don't take it the wrong way," Cat said, smiling. "I was hired by the police recently to help their men improve their skills. Because you five have been mopping the floor with all of Jump City's criminals, our men have gotten a little soft. For that reason, they asked me to put them through rigorous training. So, in a way, you could say that you guys are making my job harder."

Cat finished off her statement with a laugh.

"Um…sorry about that," said Robin.

"No!" Cat cried. "Don't be! I prefer it that way. These guys need fires lit under their asses and I brought plenty of matches and kerosene. However, if you guys are up to it, I wouldn't say no to some help with that."

"Um…sure," said Robin. "What did you have in mind?"

Cat chuckled again.

"We can work out the finer details later," she said. "For now, I'll just say it was a real treat to run into you. I hope we run into each other again."

"If you show up after each of our fights, that's a virtual certainty," said Raven.

"So, where'd you meet the kid with the fancy trigger finger?" asked Cat.

"We just met him yesterday," said Cyborg. "Poor fella didn't have a clue where or even _who_ he was."

"Still don't," said J. "Kind of still working on that."

"Oh," said Cat. "I'm sorry to hear that."

"We were actually kind of hoping that somebody with Jump's police might be able to help with that," said Robin. "We've been letting him stay with us so he's safe, but…"

"You need an official to help," said Cat. "How about a little tit-for-tat, then? I help you guys with your new friend, you help me whip these ladies into shape?"

Robin smiled.

"Sounds good to me," he said. "How about you guys?"

Starfire approached.

"I would be most eager to assist our local law enforcement any way I can," she said.

"Yeah," said Beast Boy. "It could be fun."

"Whatever," said Raven.

"I'm sure I could get your officers hooked up with some high-end equipment," said Cyborg.

"Great," said Cat. "Well, why don't you guys leave the rest of this to me and my men, and we'll make a plan later. Have a way I can contact you?"

"There should be a communicator at the police station that you can use to contact us," said Robin.  
"Alright, then," said Cat. "It was nice meeting you."

As Cat and her men walked away, the Titans all looked at each other.

"Well, that was interesting," said Raven.

"Indeed," said Starfire. "I cannot remember being approached by our police department before."

"Cat seemed pretty interesting," said J, taking another drag. "That's for sure."

"Yeah," said Robin. "It looked like you were more than just interested in her. Are you sure you've never seen her before?"

"Positive," said J, dropping what remained of the cigarette and stomping it out. "But I can't shake the feeling that she's…familiar, somehow."

"Well, why don't we figure it out later?" asked Cyborg. "I don't know about you, but all the excitement this morning has worked up my appetite. Who wants pizza?"

"Sounds good to me," said Robin.

Cyborg patted J's shoulder.

"Wanna split a meat lover's?" he asked.

"If that's anything like what it sounds like, then you bet," said J.

To be continued…


	4. Loyalty to the End

The Terrible Child

By cdc100

Summary: The Teen Titans are having a peaceful Saturday when they run across someone new; someone who is lost, alone, and holds a deep, dark secret. Robin X Starfire, Possible Beast Boy X Raven and OC X Blackfire.

Disclaimer: This is a work of pure, non-profit fanfiction. I don't own anything related to DC comics. If I did, _Teen Titans Go!_ would have been based on the comics rather than a series of chibi fiascoes.

 **4**

Chapter Four

"Loyalty to the End"

The last slice of pizza had gone to J.

J devoured the piece, crust and all, once again with no regard for table manners.

"This stuff is amazing," said J. "It's got everything. Grain, meat, dairy and vegetable. Why don't people eat this more often?"

 _"A single dish, providing a balanced helping of nature's blessings: meat, grain and vegetable. How could anyone hate such a magnificent thing?"_

"Well, it can get kind of fattening," said Raven.

"True," said Starfire. "I myself have never become heavier due to pizza, but many earth girls seem reluctant to eat it, for fear of gaining weight."

"Doesn't look like it's been a problem for either of you," said J.

"Say what?" asked Raven.

"What," said J.

"No, I mean, I beg your pardon?" asked Raven.

"Well, you and Starfire seem to be just fine," said J. "Must work off a lot of calories fighting crime."

"Are you trying to insinuate something?" asked Raven.

"No," said J. "Just trying to say you and Starfire are in pretty damn good shape."

Raven looked away from J.

"Well…thanks," she said.

"For what?" asked J.

Raven scoffed.

"Nothing," she said. "Never mind."

J shrugged and pulled out his cigarettes. He put one in his mouth and took out his lighter.

"J…" said Cyborg. "Seriously?"

"What?" asked J.

"You're actually smoking those?" asked Cyborg.

"Does it look like I'm doing something else?" asked J.

Cyborg shook his head.

"No, smartass," he said. "It looks like you're doing something very unhealthy."

"If what Raven and Starfire said is any indication, eating pizza isn't a whole lot better," J said, taking a drag.

Robin tapped J on the shoulder and pointed to a big sign on the wall nearby that said, "No smoking within thirty feet of the building."

J grumbled and pulled out a small canister he found on one of the robbers. He dropped the cigarette into it and closed it before putting it back in his pocket.

The Titans all rolled their eyes.

"What?" asked J. "You asked me to stop smoking it and I did, so what's the problem?"

"Never mind," Robin said.

J shook his head.

"Whatever," he said. "So what's next?"

"I actually was hoping to talk to you about what happened at the bank," said Robin.

"What about it?" asked J.

"Well, for starters, that plan of yours," said Robin. "How did you come up with it so quickly?"

"I didn't," said J. "I knew nothing about what was going on inside before we showed up. If I knew anything other than that the bank was being robbed, my idea would have been different, or come about quicker. It might not have taken as long to execute."

"Fair enough," said Robin. "What about the finer details? You know, Raven and Starfire staying behind, Beast Boy scouting ahead, Cyborg hacking the bank?"

"Starfire's really strong and Raven can move things without touching them," said J. "They seemed like the ideal people to stay behind to avoid any of them getting hurt, and having them outside made a perfect backup plan in case the robbers managed to overpower us and try to escape with the money. Having Cyborg on the roof avoids the problem of people being seriously hurt by him, but also keeps him in range so that he can help us with any of the electronic systems. Having you and Beast Boy with me was advantageous because Beast Boy can change size on a whim, making him the ideal scout and perfect for a surprise attack if we needed it, and because you and I are both versed in close-quarters combat, making us a good two-man infiltration team."

Robin nodded.

"You thought of all that in less than a minute?" he asked.

"No," said J.

"What do you mean no?" asked Robin.

"I mean no," said J. "It's just common sense, isn't it?"

"Well, I suppose, if you put it that way," said Robin. "What about when you distracted those guys? How did you know they would think to go check the noise the magazine made?"

"Think?" asked J. "I didn't assume they were 'thinking' anything. I assumed that they were paranoid enough to go check anything that seemed even remotely off."

"Guess I can't really argue with that logic," said Robin.

Raven looked over at J.

"You did override Robin, though," she said.

"Well, I'm sorry, but we had to act fast," said J.

"Well it's kind of hard to argue with the results," said Robin.

"True," said Raven. "If we tried anything else…"

"One family might be missing a member today," finished Cyborg.

"Please," said Starfire. "May we please speak of something more pleasant? I wish not to discuss such an unpleasant notion further."

Beast Boy put a hand on Starfire's shoulder.

"It's okay, Star," he said. "We're just saying things couldn't have gone any better than they did."

"Amen to that," said Cyborg.

J raised his hand.

"What are you doing?" asked Robin.

"Ordering another pizza," said J.

"Wha-?" Beast Boy stuttered. "Another one?"

"I'm…sorry, J, but that's not in our budget," said Robin.

"Well, my budget just substantially increased," said J, fishing a few bills out of his pocket.

"What the-?" Cyborg gasped. "Where did you get that?"

"You're better off not knowing," said J.

The Titans all narrowed their eyes at J.

"I think I know where you got it," said Robin.

J sighed and scowled at the Titans.

"Where do you think this has more use?" he asked. "My pocket, or a police storage locker?"

"That isn't yours," said Robin.

"And how do you know it was theirs?" asked J.

"All the more reason that it doesn't belong to you," said Robin.

"Think for a second," said J. "On my person, these leafy greens have more of a purpose than they would in some cardboard box waiting for some bum to make parole. I don't see him needing it any time in the near future."

Starfire's face relaxed, and she turned to the other titans and spoke.

"I believe J has a point," she said. "Now that he speaks, I seem to recall that when we first apprehended the Control Freak, we did not give his remote control to the police. Instead, we took it back to the tower, so that he could never use it again."

The group looked down at the wad of bills J pulled out. They then looked back up at J. They each leaned back and remained silent.

As one of the pizzeria's employees walked by, J got his attention.

"One more meat lover's, one more vegetarian, please," he said.

The employee walked back into the pizzeria.

"So, why the second pizza?" asked Cyborg.

J shrugged.

"I like it here," he said. "And if I can't smoke here, I might as well eat while we're here, right?"

Robin nodded.

"Maybe we can just think of this as treating ourselves for a job well done," he said.

"Who said any of you guys get a slice?" deadpanned J.

The Titans looked at J with their mouths open.

"That was a joke," he said. "You really think I'm going to eat a whole vegetarian pizza to myself?"

Not long after that, a server brought two more pizzas out and set them at the Titans' table, and each of the teens took a slice and set it on their plate. After J had finished his extra slices, he got up from the table.

"You guys can consider these pies on me," he said. "I'll get you guys some go boxes and be outside when you're ready to go."

J turned from the table and walked back indoors.

As the group sat, Raven shuddered.

"What is it, Raven?" asked Robin.

"It's…that feeling again," said Raven. "It felt like something slithering up my spine…like a snake."

"Is it something bad?" asked Robin.

"It's hard to say," said Raven. "If it were really bad, it would most likely have surfaced already, but it hasn't."

Raven followed J with her eyes, and the other Titans followed her gaze to his direction. Starfire turned to look at Raven.

"Do you believe that these feelings you are receiving might be due to our new friend?" she asked.

"It's possible," said Raven. "I did start having them the morning we met him."

Beast Boy watched J walk downstairs after going by the counter.

"What do you think is up with him?" he asked. "He's like Raven with Robin's powers."

"Uh…I don't have any powers," said Robin.

"Exactly," said Beast Boy. "He relies on the same kinds of skills as you do."

"Beast Boy's right about one thing," said Raven. "If he had powers, I think we would have seen them by now."

"How do you figure that?" asked Cyborg.

"We've already witnessed some of his abilities firsthand," said Raven. "He's apparently trained in the martial arts just like Robin, and those abilities are perfectly natural to him, even without his other memories. It doesn't seem likely that he would remember how to fight hand-to-hand, but not any powers that he might have."

"She's right," said Beast Boy. "It doesn't make any sense, even to me. I don't know if I'd say he's normal, though."

"Me neither," said Raven. "A normal person would think twice before jumping off a cliff to avoid pursuers, but he didn't even hesitate."

"True," said Starfire. "He also did not hesitate when we saved the bank."

"You should have seen him take those weapons apart," said Robin. "It was like he'd been doing it all his life. And he knew exactly what model of gun they were using."

"Yeah," said Cyborg. "He even knew where they came from. I mean, I knew AKs came from Russia, but I only ever hear of the AK-47, not the AK-74u."

"What's the difference?" asked Beast Boy.

"Mainly the ammunition," said Robin. "The 74u fires a slightly smaller cartridge."

Robin scratched his chin.

"What are you thinking?" asked Cyborg.

"Right now, I'm thinking J has more combat experience than he remembers," said Robin. "He might have been part of some sort of military program."

"That explains the gun use and what not," said Cyborg. "What about his amnesia, though?"

"If Robin's right, it's probably post-traumatic stress disorder," said Raven. "PTSD can cause short or long-term memory loss, depending on the case. And like I said before, amnesia has been known to have an effect on someone's personality, mannerisms, habits, attitudes."

Robin sighed.

"We're starting to talk in circles here," he said. "I think it might be best for us to talk to Officer Miller soon and take her up on her offer. She has access to stuff that we don't, and could help us answer a few questions."

"Sounds good," said Cyborg. "But before we do that, how about we give him some more time with us? He's just starting to get used to us."

"Agreed," said Starfire. "And when we go, we should all go with him. We are the closest thing that J has to friends, and as such, we should be there to provide him with moral support."

"I wouldn't have even considered sending him there by himself," said Robin. "Like Raven said, it's not a good idea for him to be by himself. And people are looking for him, so we might be sending him into a trap. All the more reason for us to be there when he goes."

"I could try something as well," said Raven. "I could do what I did with you when you thought that Slade had returned. It's risky, though. We might find something we won't like, or it might cause more damage."

Robin nodded.

"We'll use that as an absolute last resort," he said. "We don't need to make this harder than it already is."

The other Titans nodded and resumed eating.

After he got the go boxes, J went outside, then faced the pizzeria. He started to pace backwards, and counted with every step he took.

"Thirty," he said, taking the final step.

J reached into his pocket and pulled the canister back out of his pocket. He opened it and ejected the partially-burned cigarette he had started. He pulled the lighter he had back out and re-lit it. He took a long drag from the small tube and blew out a long wisp over his head.

As he stood, he looked up at the balcony where the Titans had taken their table. He watched the teens talk amongst themselves.

J took another drag and considered each of his newfound friends.

As he watched them speak, J heard more of the voices he had heard before.

 _"We're here to back you up."_

 _"It's my turn to protect you."_

 _"This time, I've got_ your _back!"_

 _"You're pretty good!"_

 _"Pretty…good…"_

" _We're men, with names."_

 _"Now go! Let the legend come back to life!"_

 _"Have you ever…loved someone?"_

 _"There's no one I'd rather have in a foxhole than you."_

 _"Life isn't all about loss, you know."_

J took another drag of his cigarette, which was now merely a stump. After the last drag, he dropped it on the ground and stomped on it.

J put his hands in his pockets and leaned against a nearby wall, still watching the Titans as he waited.

Back on the balcony, Beast Boy snapped his gloved fingers.

"Wait a second," he said. "Didn't J say that Miller lady seemed familiar to him?"

"Yeah," said Cyborg. "He did. She might be able to help us more than she thought."

"Maybe so," said Robin. "But I think it might be best if we see what we can find out on our own first."

"How long do you think we should press him?" asked Raven.

"I wouldn't exactly call it 'pressing him,'" said Robin, "but what if we keep him at the tower for another week or so before we do anything else."

"That's all well and good," said Raven, looking over the balcony, down at J. "But what are we going to do about that?"

Raven pointed over the balcony, prompting the other Titans to look over it. When they did, they could see J exhaling a cloud of smoke over his head.

"I'd rather not have to heal lung tissue," said Raven.

"It might be some kind of coping mechanism," said Cyborg. "My dad smoked for a time when he was stressed out."

"Cyborg's got a point," said Robin. "We'd probably be pretty stressed out about not being able to remember anything earlier than 48 hours ago."

"Besides, perhaps this is an indicator of his character," said Starfire. "While I do not approve of the smoking of cigarettes, the fact that he does so tells us more about him."

"And narrows the field of possibilities," said Robin. "There are fewer people in the world who smoke than people who don't."

"Flawless logic," said Raven. "Except that when we first observed his medical examinations, we didn't find any evidence of him having smoked in the past. This is a very, very new development."

"So we're back to square one," said Beast Boy. "Doesn't seem like we're any worse off than before. We're still dealing with a missing persons case."

"I guess," said Raven.

Robin looked down at the table.

"Let's box up this pizza," he said. "We'll discuss more at the Tower. We might still be able to derive something from J's dreams."

Soon, the Titans had their leftovers put away and came out of the pizzeria. J was leaning against a nearby building, his cigarette long since extinguished.

"Have a nice smoke?" asked Robin.

J shrugged and followed the Titans to the vehicles. He got in the back seat with Raven and Starfire, sitting on the passenger's side and looking out the window as the T-Car took off and passed all the nearby buildings.

"So, how are you liking Jump City so far?" Beast Boy asked from the front passenger seat.

"It's alright," said J. "Don't really have anything to compare it to."

"You don't know about any other cities?" asked Cyborg.

"I know the basics about certain cities, like New York is our largest city, Chicago has the most crime out of all the cities in the US, Washington, D.C. is the capital and stuff like that, but that's about all," said J. "I don't even know if I myself am American."

"You sure sound like one," said Beast Boy. "Well, other than the battered throat, I mean."

"That could mean anything," said J. "I could be Canadian, Bermudan, maybe even Monacan."

"Well, do you know any French?" asked Raven. "If not, we might be able to rule out Canada and Monaco as your homelands."

"Off the top?" asked J.

He looked up in thought.

"Quand allons-nous retour à la Tour?" he asked.

Raven's eyes widened. The other occupants of the car did a double take.

"It shouldn't take us long," said Raven. "Ten minutes at the most."

"What was that?" asked Beast Boy.

"I asked Raven when we'd return to the Tower," said J.

 _"You never did like the French,"_ said a voice in J's head.

 _"All that Catherine the Great aristocratic pompousness gets to me, that's all,"_ said another voice. _"Palace talk. They can keep it."_

"What the-?" J asked.

"What is it?" asked Cyborg.

J shook his head.

"It's nothing," said J.

"Another memory?" asked Starfire.

J sighed and nodded.

"What was it?" asked Raven.

"Somebody talking about not liking the French," said J. "Something about 'Catherine the Great aristocratic pompousness.'"

Raven quirked an eyebrow.

"You asked," said J.

"Never said I didn't," said Raven, facing forward again.

"What do you suppose it means?" asked J.

"When we get back to the Tower, we're going to try and go over your dreams," said Raven. "We'll also need to know anything odd you might have experienced up to this point."

"You mean besides rooming in a Tower with a quintet of superheroes?" asked J.

"Yeah," said Beast Boy. "Besides that."

"That's going to be kind of hard," said J. "Everything's been just…crazy. I've seen and heard and felt stuff that just…isn't normal. Even by superhero standards. No offense."

"None taken," said Cyborg.

"Please, friend J," said Starfire. "Anything that will help us understand you and learn who you are, will be a great help. We do not care how odd or questionable it seems."

"Okay," said J. "So, if I told you I had some kind of hallucination?"

"You wouldn't be the first of us to have one," said Raven. "We've all experienced odd stuff like that."

"Odd," said J. "That actually makes me feel a little better."

"Yeah, you're not the only weirdo in town," joked Cyborg.

"Yeah," said Beast Boy. "Like the man said, I'm green, half of him is metal, she's from space, and she's half-demon. You fit in just fine."

J chuckled and reached into his pocket. He pulled out the box of cigarettes he'd pilfered and stuck one in his mouth.

"I know you not smokin' up my car," said Cyborg, glaring at J through the rearview mirror.

The other Titans looked at J with narrowed eyes.

J shrugged and put the cigarette back in the box.

"Hey, J," said Beast Boy. "I think we narrowed down the possibilities more."

"How do you figure?" asked J.

"I saw you ogling one of the servers back at the pizza place," said Beast Boy, waggling his eyebrows and ears.

J's jaw tightened and he looked out the window more intently.

"I don't know what you're talking about," said J.

Cyborg grinned through the rearview mirror.

"Don't lie to us, kid," he said. "We saw you tryin' to check her out without a card. Someone should arrest you!"

"One more word, and I swear to God…" said J, bringing the box of cigarettes back out.

"You do and you're walking," Cyborg said, scowling.

"Maybe I'd prefer to risk having to walk than deal with any more of that shit," said J, taking out his lighter and flicking the switch.

"Alright!" yelled Cyborg. "Alright! I'm sorry! Just…put those away, will you?"

J chuckled and put away the cigarettes and lighter.

"Never threaten unless you're ready to deliver," he said. "Makes you look like a wimp."

Cyborg looked back through the mirror again.

"Seriously, though," said Cyborg. "Why'd you get so mad just now?"

"Yeah," said Beast Boy. "Nothing wrong with seeing a cute girl."

J remained silent.

"I hate to say it, but Beast Boy's right," said Raven. "You're a teenage boy. You're going to look. As long as you don't make them feel uncomfortable, there's nothing wrong with looking."

J remained silent still.

"Come on, man," said Cyborg. "Talk to us."

J groaned.

"Fine," he said. "I…looked."

Cyborg and Beast Boy reached their hands back to high-five J, but Raven scowled at them both, causing the duo to retract their hands.

"What did you look at?" asked Raven.

"I'd…rather not say," said J.

"Come on," said Beast Boy. "What did we just say? It's okay to look. You think she's going to find out you were checking her out and then come back to beat you up?"

"As if," said J.

"Then what's the problem?" asked Beast Boy.

"What good would it have done?" asked J. "Even if she liked it, which I doubt she would have, it wouldn't make any difference."

"Hey, come on, man," said Cyborg, frowning. "You say that now, but you might run into somebody else. What are you going to do then?"

"Ignore her," said J.

"Ignore her?" asked Cyborg.

"Ignore her," said J.

The boys remained silent.

"Well you're boring," said Beast Boy.

"Okay, Mr. Ladies' Man wannabe," said J. "Enlighten me. What would you do in that situation?"

"I thought you'd never ask," said Beast Boy, smiling. "Allow me to demonstrate."

With that, Beast Boy looked back into the back seat, at Raven.

"Hey there, beautiful," Beast Boy said. "What's cooking?"

"Your brain if you don't get out of here," said Raven.

Beast Boy frowned and looked back ahead.

"Please, J," said Starfire. "Women love to be noticed. If you find the right one, they will appreciate your thoughts on their appearance as well as their personalities."

"I don't think there is a right one for me," said J.

All the Titans looked at J when Cyborg came to a red light.

"What in the world makes you say that?" asked Cyborg.

"When was the last time you saw a classified saying, 'Amnesiac martial artist looking for love?'" asked J.

"Um…never?" asked Cyborg.

"I rest my case," said J.

"It's not much of a case," said Raven.

"Raven's right," said Beast Boy. "Come on. It's not like we're going to hurt you if you tell us."

J sighed a heavy sigh then looked up at the ceiling.

"Fine," he said. "She…had a pretty face."

"Yeah?" asked Cyborg. "What was pretty about it?"

"Her eyes," said J. "They sparkled. They were calm, warm, compassionate eyes. Like Starfire's."

Starfire turned away to hide a blush.

"What else?" asked Beast Boy.

"Well…" J trailed off, "she had a cute…smile."

"Smile?" asked Cyborg.

"Yeah," said J.

"You don't sound so sure," said Raven.

"I was trying to be considerate," said J.

Raven rolled her eyes.

"Look," she said, "none of us are going to judge you, okay? Your embarrassment is overwhelming, so could you please just tell us the truth?"

"Well, she did have a cute smile," said J.

"Duly noted," said Raven.

"What else?" said Beast Boy.

J looked out the window again.

"She had a cute butt," he said.

Raven quirked an eyebrow while Starfire blushed again and Beast Boy and Cyborg sniggered to each other.

"So we've got a butt man onboard," said Beast Boy.

"It wasn't quite as cute as Raven's, though," said J.

Raven recoiled at that, and Beast Boy suddenly lost his sense of humor. Meanwhile, Starfire and Cyborg both chuckled.

"Alright!" growled J. "I have now thoroughly embarrassed myself, so can we please stop talking about this?!"

Everyone in the car clammed up as the vehicle came to a stop in the garage of the tower.

Robin pulled into the garage shortly after that and left his helmet on the R-Cycle as the other Titans got out of the car.

"How was the ride?" asked Robin.

J stepped away from the car and walked past him.

"I don't want to talk about it," he said.

Robin turned to the other Titans.

"What the hell happened?" he asked.

"We have found out that friend J finds my eyes to be calm and compassionate and Raven's butt to be cute," said Starfire, smiling.

The three other T-Car occupants looked at Starfire in horror (except for Cyborg, who just laughed loudly) while Robin's eye twitched.

When everyone got inside, they found J on the couch, laying down and staring at the ceiling.

"Come to embarrass me more?" he asked.

"No," said Robin. "The others and I are serious about wanting to help you figure out who you are. You're our friend now, so we want to help. It's also the reason why Cyborg and Beast Boy were ribbing you back in the T-Car. Friends do that to each other."

"I see," said J. "Well, I appreciate you guys thinking of me that way, even if you have a weird way of showing it."

Beast Boy and Cyborg clenched their hands into fists and extended them to J, who rolled his eyes and gave them each a pound.

"Blow it up," said Beast Boy.

"Don't push it," said J.

"Okay," said Robin. "Now that that's settled, what do you say we get down to business?"

J sat up on the couch and the others joined him.

"So," said Robin. "You mentioned having dreams. We were wondering if you could share the details."

"As discussed in the car, it might also be good if you could tell us about anything weird you've experienced since coming here," said Raven.

"Right," said J.

J reached into his pocket and pulled something out. The group saw it and recognized it. Beast Boy reached out and took the object from J's hand. It was a light blue hair clip with an adornment in the shape of a butterfly.

"Where did you get this?" asked Beast Boy.

"I found it on a table in the room I shacked up in," said J.

"What happened?" asked Raven.

"I reached out to touch it and something…weird happened," said J. "It disappeared and I saw a glittering blue butterfly fly around my room. I also heard a helicopter rotor. The butterfly landed back on the table and the hairclip was back."

Beast Boy looked down at the clip.

"It sounds like you saw a morpho butterfly," he said. "Now that I think of it, it does sort of look like that."

 _"Tower, this is Morpho One! Do you copy?"_

"I'm sorry I took it," said J. "It just…stirred something up, so I thought maybe I should give it a closer look…later."

"It's not your fault," said Cyborg. "I'd want to look at anything that made me experience something like that."

J nodded.

"Where did _you guys_ get that, anyway?" he asked.

Beast Boy frowned as he looked down at the hair decoration.

"It used to belong to a friend of ours," he said.

"What happened to her?" asked J. "Who was she?"

"It's a long story," said Cyborg.

"Well, you can tell it," said J. "I'm not going anywhere."

The Titans all nodded to each other, and Beast Boy heaved a great sigh before he spoke.

"Her name…was Terra," said Beast Boy. "She came to us as a rookie. She had the ability to move rocks and earth with her mind."

"Geokinesis, huh?" asked J.

"We brought her to the Tower and let her stay," said Beast Boy. "We wanted to bring her onto the team, but she didn't want to stay."

"Why not?" asked J.

"She wasn't able to control her powers," said Beast Boy. "She was afraid of hurting us and having us banish her from the tower. She came to help us out with one of our most dangerous enemies – a guy named Slade – but Slade ended up getting inside her head. When she realized that we knew she couldn't control her powers, she left and joined forces with Slade to try and learn to control her powers. She came back to us, and we thought she would be a great addition to the team, but…"

Beast Boy's head sank.

"We found out that she was working for Slade," said Robin. "She betrayed us, and gave Slade everything he ever wanted to know about us. She helped Slade bring this entire city to its knees."

"But the truth is, deep inside, Terra was just a scared girl," said Raven. "She went to Slade and betrayed us because she didn't know what else to do. In the end, she helped us defeat Slade, sacrificing herself in the process."

 _"Bomb! There is a…"_

 _"It's alright! We got it out!"_

 _"There is another…in…my…"_

 _"NO!"_

J suddenly collapsed to the floor and started to breathe heavily.

"J!" exclaimed Starfire. "Are you okay?"

J heaved a breath and sat back up, laying his head against the seat of the couch.

"I'm fine," he said.

"What's wrong?" asked Robin.

"It was…like my dreams," said J.

"What exactly do you see in your dreams, J?" asked Cyborg.

"I don't really 'see' anything," said J. "I just hear a bunch of noise. People talking."

"Examples?" asked Robin.

"A bunch of different things," said J. "It's hard to pick any _one_ out. There was a guy, telling another guy he'd better not die, another guy giving someone a 'good news, bad news' scenario…"

"What kind of good news, bad news scenario?" asked Robin.

"He said the good news was he was still alive, and the bad news was, the whole world wanted him dead," said J.

"What did you hear just now?" asked Raven.

"Something about a bomb," said J. "A person said they got one bomb out, but the other person said there was another."

"That's it?" asked Robin.

J nodded.

Cyborg scratched his chin.

"If he strains too much to remember, it might cause more damage," he said.

"Right," said Beast Boy, patting J on the back. "Baby steps, buddy."

Starfire and Robin both lifted J from the floor and gently sat him back down on the couch.

"I don't think it's a good idea for him to get up right now," said Raven.

"I have to agree," said Robin. "J, you should sit on the couch and chill for a while. We'll pick out a movie for you and you can take a nap for a little while."

J yawned and allowed himself to sink back into the couch.

"That sounds good to me," he said.

The group put on a movie of some sort and started doing their own thing in the common room as the movie played. Starfire went into the kitchen to cook. Cyborg went with her to help and supervise. Meanwhile, Beast Boy and Robin sat at the table playing a game of cards, and Raven sat at the end of the couch, reading a book.

J happened to look over at Raven and glance at the book. Evidently, it was a collection of poems and stories by someone named Edgar Allan Poe.

"So, which one are you reading?" asked J.

"Can't you tell by the cover?" Raven asked, peeking around the cover at him.

"I can," said J. "I just wanted to know which poem you were reading."

"Oh," said Raven. "Well, I just finished reading _The Bells_. Now I'm reading _The Masque of the Red Death_."

"Good?" asked J.

"So far," said Raven. "Probably nothing you'd be interested in."

"Let me borrow it sometime and we'll see," said J.

"Alright," said Raven. "Maybe I will."

J faced forward.

"I'm guessing this kind of movie isn't really your thing," he said.

Raven looked up at the TV screen to see that some sort of action movie was playing; the kind with muscle bound men with big guns.

"Not really," said Raven. "What about you? Is it your thing?"

"Kind of remains to be seen," said J. "I mean, a lot of the stuff I'm seeing right now seems horribly inaccurate."

"Most movies are," said Raven. "Most of them aren't really meant to be accurate; merely to entertain."

"Maybe if I found something to focus on besides all the action sequences…" J trailed off.

"Yeah," said Raven. "Like how nice all those pretty women's butts look."

J looked toward the kitchen and away from Raven.

"I'm…sorry…about that," said J.

Raven set her book down and tapped J on the shoulder.

"J," she said. "Any of the others will tell you, if I had a problem with you, you'd know it."

J grunted in acknowledgment.

"Well, any time you want to give me some payback, I won't stop you," he said.

"Turnabout is fair play, huh?" asked Raven. "It's not like you insulted me or anything."

"Didn't I make you uncomfortable, though?" asked J.

"Only a little," said Raven. "But not for the reason you think. I'm just not used to compliments, is all."

"I would never have guessed," said J.

"Pardon me?" asked Raven.

"I figured you had guys lining up at the front of the Tower," said J.

As the duo spoke, Beast Boy scowled down at his hand.

"Is everything alright, Beast Boy?" asked Robin. "You haven't made a move in five minutes."

"It's…nothing, Rob," Beast Boy said, laying down a card.

"If you're sure," said Robin.

Robin picked up another card from the deck.

J looked over into the kitchen where Cyborg and Starfire were cooking something. He sniffed the air.

"That doesn't smell like anything I recognize," said J.

"If we were talking about any other food, I would say that could mean anything," said Raven. "But what you're smelling is probably another one of Starfire's alien dishes."

"I see," said J.

"Yeah," said Raven.

"You don't sound too thrilled about that," said J.

"Starfire makes a lot of dishes that Earthlings shouldn't even touch," said Raven. "Most of it is either still alive, or completely inedible."

"Still alive?" asked J. "Sounds like a good test of my survival skills."

Raven shrugged.

"Survival skills indeed," she said. "That's exactly what an earthling needs when trying her cooking."

J smiled.

"How are the rest of you at cooking?" asked J.

"Well, all Beast Boy ever cooks is tofu," said Raven. "I burn everything. Even water."

"I don't know," said J. "Those pancakes you made this morning weren't bad."

"Thanks," said Raven. "Well, you already know what Starfire's cooking is like. I think of the five of us, Cyborg and Robin are the best cooks. Ironic, isn't it?"

"What is?" asked J.

"That the majority of our team are boys and they're the only ones who can cook," said Raven.

"How's that ironic?" asked J.

"Girls are more expected to know how to cook," said Raven.

"I don't see what the big deal is," said J. "It's just like combat. Some people are suited for it and some aren't. That doesn't mean that one gender or another is better suited for it."

Raven shrugged.

"I suppose," she said.

"Both genders should at least have a basic idea how to do it," J said. "If you're out in the wilderness by yourself, who's going to cook for you? You."

"You really like to think in terms of survival, don't you?" asked Raven.

"Survival is how you ensure a successful mission," said J.

Raven nodded and went back to her book.

J turned to look at the TV screen again, and soon enough, he found himself asleep.

As he dreamt, J found himself in a large field full of white flowers, standing face-to-face with a woman. She was an older woman, who wore an all-white uniform with the front opened to expose her chest. Her long, wavy, blonde hair was drawn back in a ponytail.

The woman spoke to him.

 _"I taught you all I could,"_ said the woman. _"The rest you needed to learn on your own."_

 _"Techniques, sure,"_ J felt and heard himself say, _"but what about how to think like a soldier?"_

 _"There's a saying in the Orient,"_ said the woman. _"'Loyalty to the End…' Do you know what that means?"_

 _"Being…patriotic?"_ J asked.

 _"It means devoting yourself to your country,"_ said the woman. _"As long as we have 'Loyalty to the End,' there's no point in believing in anything…even in those we love."_

 _"And that's the way a soldier's supposed to think?"_ asked J.

 _"The only thing we can believe in with absolute certainty…is the mission, Jack,"_ said the woman.

J woke slowly, staring at the ceiling of Titans Tower as his eyes fluttered open.

"Jack…" he said.

"What did you say?" asked the voice of Raven.

J turned to look at Raven, and saw that she had put down her book. She was looking at him with a quirked eyebrow.

"Another dream?" she asked.

"Yeah," said J.

"More voices?" asked Raven.

"More," said J. "Not just voices. I could see images, this time."

The other Titans came over from the other areas of the Tower and looked down at J.

"What did you see?" asked Cyborg.

J shook his head.

"A woman," he said. "We were standing in a field of flowers. White flowers."

"What were you doing?" asked Robin.

"We were talking," said J. "Just talking."

"What about?" asked Robin.

"She was talking about 'Loyalty to the End,'" said J.

"What?" asked Beast Boy. "What's that mean?"

"I wasn't entirely clear on that either," J said. "But from what she said, it means devoting yourself entirely to a cause. She said 'Loyalty to the End' means believing in the cause and nothing else."

"What cause?" asked Cyborg.

"I'm not sure," said J. "But I think it means something. She was saying that you have to devote yourself entirely to what you believe in. I think I'm supposed to find something to believe in, and devote myself to it entirely. In my dream I asked if what she was talking about was being patriotic. She didn't say yes, but she didn't say no, either. I suppose it's fitting to call a mentality like that 'patriotism.' Like you, Starfire."

"Me?" asked Starfire.

"You come from Tamaran," said J. "You share the customs of your home world with your friends. But you live on Earth. You live with your friends in Titans Tower. Every day, you help your friends save Jump City from some kind of catastrophe. Every day, you save Earthlings' lives.

"But of course," said Starfire. "I live here now. This is my home. I will stop anyone who threatens my home and I will not allow anyone in my home to be hurt."

"Exactly," said J. "You've devoted yourself to your home. You've devoted yourself to its protection. You're a true patriot."

Starfire smiled.

"Well, I suppose I am…flattered," said J.

"You shouldn't be," J said.

"I am…sorry?" Starfire asked, frowning.

"By devoting yourself to the protection of a planet you don't come from, which you have chosen as your home, you are doing your duty," said J. "You are showing loyalty to a cause. You're showing patriotism. For that reason, you're proving yourself to be a hero. You deserve recognition and have no reason to be humble."

Starfire's entire face turned red.

"The same goes for the rest of you," J said. "You're doing something that nobody asked you to do, because it feels like the right thing to do. You're showing true patriotism with your actions."

Robin grinned down at J.

"So what does that make you, then?" he asked.

"Guess my dream was telling me that I should find out," said J. "What do you guys think?"

"Well, it sounds to me like we need to do a full test of your abilities," said Robin.

"But how are we to do this?" asked Starfire. "As advanced as our equipment may be, we do not have all that is necessary to test all of his skills."

"Yeah," said Cyborg. "We have targets that he could use to practice, but we would have to be sure he couldn't hit anything or anybody else with his guns."

"He doesn't have any guns right now," said Beast Boy.

J smirked to himself at Beast Boy's remark.

"What?" asked Beast Boy.

"Nothing," said J.

"Anyway, even if he did, there's no way Robin would ever let him use them," said Beast Boy.

"If what Robin said is any indication, then J's skill with firearms isn't something we can just ignore," said Raven. "We can't just pretend they don't exist. That would be like asking Cyborg to give up his sonic cannon and Starfire to stop using her starbolts."

"Good point," said Cyborg. "And we've seen firsthand that Starfire's starbolts are more dangerous than any firearm."

"Of course they are," said Robin. "They're pure energy."

"So, if you guys are allowed to use things like that, there's no reason to stop J from using his skills with a firearm," said Raven.

"There's only one problem with that," said Robin. "Cyborg's sonic cannon and Starfire's starbolts aren't regulated. Firearms are. In order for J to use his skills uninhibited, we would need some sort of special permit."

Cyborg nodded.

"Maybe it's time we pay Officer Miller a visit," he said. "She did say that she'd trade help with us."

The other Titans nodded.

"It's settled, then," Robin said. "I'll call Officer Miller tomorrow and ask her to meet us."

"There's one thing I'm still wondering, though," said Raven. "Where does Jack fit into this?"

"Jack?" asked Cyborg.

"Yeah," said Raven. "When J woke up, I heard him say that name."

J scratched his head.

"In my dream, the woman called me Jack," he said.

To be continued…


	5. Miller's Maxi Buns

The Terrible Child

By cdc100

Summary: The Teen Titans are having a peaceful Saturday when they run across someone new; someone who is lost, alone, and holds a deep, dark secret. Robin X Starfire, Possible Beast Boy X Raven and OC X Blackfire.

Disclaimer: This is a work of pure, non-profit fanfiction. _Teen Titans_ is the property of Cartoon Network, DC Entertainment, Warner Bros. Animation, Bruce Timm, Marv Wolfman, George Peréz and Glen Murakami. Please support the official release.

(Seriously, though, if I owned _Teen Titans_ , we would have gotten an honest-to-god sixth, seventh, eighth and maybe even ninth season of the show instead of a bunch of a series of chibi-esque insults to the original show.)

 **5**

Chapter Five

"Miller's Maxi Buns"

The Titans and their new guest once again rode in their respective vehicles. While Cyborg drove the T-Car, J rode in the front passenger seat while Beast Boy, Raven and Starfire sat in the back seat, and Robin rode ahead of them on the R-Cycle.

"How is it so far, Robin?" asked J.

"So far, so good," said Robin. "Got a clean visual. My new AR/IR display is functioning perfectly."

"You didn't have to forgo your usual seat in the T-Car, you know," J said.

"It wasn't like we could have just left you at the Tower," said Robin. "And any other method of travel wouldn't have been practical. Besides, this gives me a chance to test out the new heads-up display Cyborg and I cooked up. When I'm on the R-Cycle, this display will help me stay in communication and keep up pursuits."

"Sounds awesome," said J.

 _"Wish I was good with gadgets,"_ said a voice in J's mind.

"It'll help a lot next time I have to face Johnny Rancid," said Robin. "See how he likes being tracked through walls."

"You know, I've been meaning to ask about that Rogues Gallery of yours," J said. "Where the hell do they come up with their names? They sound like B-movie villains."

"Have you even seen any B-movies?" asked Raven.

"Now that you mention it, I don't think I have," J said. "Not even sure I know why I know what one is."

"Please," said Starfire. "This concept refers to a movie about bees, or the letter B?"

"Neither," Robin said, chuckling over the intercom. "A B-movie is a movie that is well-known, but usually pales in comparison to other movies. But B-movies aren't always necessarily bad movies."

"The concept sounds rather…nuanced," said Starfire.

"Got that right," Robin said.

J sighed.

"How much longer to the police station?" he asked.

"Not much further now," Cyborg said. "Officer Miller should be getting off shift any minute. We should arrive just in time to catch her on her way out."

"Good," J said. "I'm anxious to see if she can help as much as we're hoping."

"And even if she doesn't, it couldn't hurt to get you a bit more familiar with the city," Robin said.

"Yeah, maybe we could take you out for a burger," Cyborg said. "Hey, there's an idea."

"Yeah," J said. "Now that you mention it, a burger sounds great."

"No, I mean, why don't we pass the time by discussing it?" asked Cyborg. "You know how you like your eggs, maybe you know how you like your burgers, too."

"Hm, maybe," said J.

"So, why don't you tell us what sounds good for your burger?" asked Cyborg.

J leaned back in his seat, crossed his arms over his chest and looked up at the ceiling.

"What?" asked Cyborg. "I thought it sounded like fun."

"I'm thinking," J said.

"Oh," said Cyborg. "Okay."

"Well, I'm thinking a sesame seed bun," said J. "No, a potato bun. Better."

"Worry about the bun later," said Cyborg. "Other details, man."

"Seemed important to me, but okay," J said. "Well…the patty would have to be as thick as my thumb at least. Maybe a quarter- or half-pound. Not too well done. Nice and juicy."

"Dude!" yelled Beast Boy. "Stop! You're gonna make me sick!"

"Then cover your ears," said Cyborg. "Keep going, J."

"Well, the cheese would have to be thick and melted on perfectly," J said. "Bacon on top of the cheese, smothered with ketchup and spicy mustard. Maybe a little bit of mayo and steak sauce on the bun."

"What about vegetables?" asked Cyborg.

"What about them?" asked J.

Cyborg chuckled and held up his hand. J rolled his eyes and high-fived him.

"Sounds like a tasty burger," Cyborg said. "Yo, Robin. What say after we're done with Miller, we head to the nearest burger joint?"

"We'll just have to see," Robin said. "This might take a while, so we may have to just order out."

Soon, the group pulled up to the Jump City Police Department, where they saw several officers leaving for their patrol cars or their civilian vehicles. Just coming out of the door was Cat, her feathery blonde hair bouncing behind her as she walked. As she saw the Titans pull into the parking lot and exit their vehicles, she smiled.

"Titans," she said. "Good to see you again."

"Good to see you too, Cat," said Robin.

"I'm assuming this isn't a social call, though," Cat said. "So, what can I do for you?"  
"We thought a bit more about your offer," Robin said. "We'd like to discuss it with you more."

Cat nodded.

"You guys hungry?" she asked.

"Famished," Cyborg said.

"Good," Cat said. "I was just headed to get something myself. You guys are more than welcome to join me. I'm buying."

"You hear that, guys?" Cyborg said. "Dinner's on the officer!"

"Some days, I love being a superhero," Beast Boy said.

"Let me go get my patrol car and you guys can follow me in," Cat said.

Cat went to the parking lot while the Titans got back in their vehicles. Cyborg and Robin spotted Cat's car and followed her. Soon, Cat led the Titans to a building none of them recognized: a neon-lit place called "Miller's Maxi Buns."

When the group parked their vehicles, Cyborg came up to Cat.

"Did you read our minds or something?" he asked. "We were just talking about how good a burger sounded right about now."

"I just thought you guys might like to talk in a nice, friendly setting," Cat said. "Besides, everybody loves a good burger. Come on in. You can sit with me at my usual table."

"So, do you own this place or something?" J asked.

"Eh, kind of," Cat said.

"What do you mean, kind of?" asked Robin.

"Well, it's a family property, but it got franchised years and years ago," said Cat. "It used to belong to my dad. I inherited it after he passed away."

"Sorry to hear that," said Robin.

Cat chuckled.

"Don't worry about it," she said. "That was _so_ long ago. And he did not die young, I'll tell you that."

Cat led the team into the place and went to the front. The Titans followed and looked around at the inside. It was a balance of classy and simple. It gave them a feeling of being in the 1950s, with booth tables lined with laminated placemats that also served as menus. Cat muttered a few words to one of the servers and then gestured for the Titans to follow.

Cat led the Titans to a large table in the back corner of the diner.

"Beast Boy, when you get a look at the menu, take a look at our vegetarian options," said Cat. "They'll be on the back."

"Oh, okay," said Beast Boy.

The group sat down around the table and looked at their menu.

"Wow," said Cyborg. "Man, I don't think I've seen a burger place in town that has as many options as this place."

"My dad loved a good burger," Cat said. "He had a whole laboratory putting research into the best tasting and most satisfying burgers. He had people experiment with different kinds of meats, vegetables, cheeses, buns, sauces, additives – anything you could think of to make the best burgers ever."

"Lamburger?" asked Raven. "Is that what it sounds like?"

"Yeah," Cat said. "What's the matter? Don't care much for lamb?"

"No, I just haven't ever heard of a burger made of lamb," said Raven. "Then again, I hadn't really heard of a tofu burger or even a vegetable burger before I met Beast Boy."

Beast Boy glowered at Raven.

"Speaking of, what made you suggest a vegetarian option to him?" Robin asked.

"Simple," said Cat. "I did my homework. I learned from others at the Justice Department that Beast Boy won't eat anything with meat in it because he's been most of the animals that get eaten."

Beast Boy nodded.

"You're probably not familiar with a lot of burger options for vegetarians," said Cat. "So, how about I make a recommendation? Try our fruit salad burger."

Beast Boy quirked an eyebrow.

"What on earth is all of that?" he asked.

"Our fruit salad burger uses the freshest fruits at our disposal," Cat said. "It's layered with pineapple, slices of orange, drizzled with lime juice and lemon zest and garnished with a chopped-grape relish, all sandwiched between two honey-glazed bagel slices that have been buttered with a mashed banana spread."

"Interesting," Beast Boy said. "O…kay, I'll give it a try."

"I also know that you guys are big fans of pizza," Cat said. "So, I'll go ahead and recommend something to you guys that I'm sure you'll enjoy."

Cat held up her menu and pointed to an option on the side with the regular burgers.

"Pizza burger?" asked Robin.

"Yeah," Cat said. "This baby's a real masterpiece. It's a 100% real beef patty grilled with pepper jack cheese with two slices of pepperoni melted in and topped with marinara sauce, seasoned with oregano and parmesan cheese, all on our Italian herb and cheese bun."

"Damn," Cyborg said. "That actually does sound pretty good."

"And Raven, that lamburger you found is one of our healthiest," Cat said. "It's got a Greek yogurt spread with a sweet Greek goat's milk cheese, and all on our special cotton candy bun."

"Cotton…candy?" Raven asked.

"We're still trying to figure out a good name for it," Cat grumbled. "But basically, we take the ingredients for our regular buns and run them through the same process that one puts sugar through for cotton candy, creating the fluffiest buns you could imagine."

"I do not believe I have ever seen a burger with a color such as this," said Starfire.

Robin leaned toward Starfire and looked where she was pointing.

"It's…it's blue," Robin said. "The Chemical Burger?"

Cat chuckled.

"Oh, yeah," she said. "That's one of our finest. It's actually a favorite among our customers."

"You've…you've got to be kidding," Robin said.

"What?" asked Cat.

"People actually buy this?" Robin asked. "They see a blue burger and think, 'oh that looks good?'"

"Now, now," Cat said. "Don't freak out just because of its color. It's way better than it looks."

"Then why does it look so…bad?" Robin asked.

"It gets its color from the additives it's been pumped with," Cat said. "But don't worry. Each one has been approved by the WHO and the FDA for human consumption. My dad's researchers ran it through a gauntlet of tests for taste, shelf life and quality. The only place it falls short is its appearance. We can easily change that, but my dad considered it a landmark in our business, a symbol of how far his business went, so he kept it like it was. We've only had one person get sick from eating it, and that was because they had already eaten a ton of food beforehand."

"I believe that the Chemical Burger is worth a taste, Robin," said Starfire. "Surely one bite will not cause us harm?"

Robin sighed.

"Come on," Cat said. "Just try it. Starfire's right."

Robin grumbled and looked back down at the menu.

"It's so hard to pick," Cyborg said. "There are so many choices."

"So, don't pick," Cat said. "I already know all about you and Starfire's legendary appetites, Cyborg. You guys order as much as you want, and don't even think of worrying about the bill."

"Alrighty, then," Cyborg said.

Eventually, their server came to take their order.

"I'll have two chemical burgers, three pizza burgers, some fries-" Cyborg began.

"Wait," said Cat. "Let me make another suggestion, Cyborg. How about you have some cube steak fries with ranch dressing?"

"That actually sounds pretty good," Cyborg said. "Alright, cube steak fries and a soda."

"I believe I will try the Chemical Burger," Starfire said. "It looks most delicious. What of you, Robin?"

Robin sighed.

"I…guess I'll have the Chemical Burger, too."

Raven set her menu down and looked at the server.

"I'll take a Lamburger," she said. "Not too heavy on the yogurt."

"I'll have the Fruit Salad Burger," Beast Boy said. "Just regular fries for me. I'm not a complete savage."

The server chalked all of their orders down.

"Drinks?" he asked.

"Sodas all around," Robin said.

When the server left, Cat turned to the group and spoke.

"Alright," she said. "Now, I believe we were going to discuss helping each other out."

"Yeah," said Robin.

"Well, why don't you start from the beginning?" asked Cat. "Our drinks should be here soon. Hopefully, that'll be enough time for you to tell me what's going on."

The Titans explained to Cat how they met J, and soon enough, their drinks arrived. Cat picked up her drink and took a sip before speaking.

"It seems to me like your number one priority is finding out about J's past," Cat said. "That will give you a better idea of what you're dealing with. It might reveal who's after him, and help him regain his memory. I have to agree with Raven. It seems odd that he would remember how to use a bunch of weapons that no 17-year-old would have any business using, but not any powers."

"What are you thinking so far?" Robin asked.

"Well, based on what you're telling me, I would guess that he's a former child soldier," Cat said. "A lot of children end up sent to the front lines to fight. Places like Africa, South America, parts of Asia, the Middle East. Kids of all ages get sent to the front lines with weapons training. The youngest couldn't be more than eight or nine."

"That is terrible," Starfire said. "Who would allow such atrocities to happen? On my world, one does not see combat until they are at least above the age of twelve, and that is the being generous."

"Unfortunately, it happens here on Earth all the time," Cat said. "We don't like it, but there's very little we can do about it. Anyway, back to my theory. Whenever possible, child soldiers who have survived war will be rounded up and placed in relief centers; places where they can be rehabilitated into society. A lot of the children sent to these centers are often given regression therapy."

"I've seen centers like that before," Beast Boy said.

"Since when?" asked Raven.

"Since I grew up in Africa," Beast Boy said. "Anyway, you were saying something about regression therapy?"

"Right," Cat said. "Well, the children are given regression therapy to try and take the proverbial 'killer instinct' out of them so that they can be reintegrated into society. It sounds great on paper and in theory, but in practice, it's a lot more complicated. You're essentially _reprogramming_ a human brain. A lot of the children that go through the throes of war will go through the regression therapy and seem fine for a while, but I haven't seen many cases in which it makes for a good long-term solution. A lot of the children in those situations just are not able to deal with the circumstances leading up to their placement in the relief centers, and they often find their way back to the battlefield eventually, whether it's by their own will or not."

"So, what does all of this have to do with J?" asked Beast Boy.

"In a lot of cases, former child soldiers who've gone through regression therapy like that will start experiencing odd phenomena," Cat said. "Some will have nightmares full of things that they can't place, and others will be doing a normal, everyday activity and suddenly feel like they are in the middle of a warzone. And because of the therapy, they can't associate it with any of their memories."

"So, you think that J might have had similar treatments?" asked Robin. "Like, he was a child soldier, then got put in a relief center to go through that therapy and likely has all of these 'not-so-hidden' talents he has no idea what to do with?"

"That's one possibility," Cat said. "My dad dealt with a lot of child soldiers in his time. He participated in a lot of DDR missions."

"DDR?" Beast Boy asked. " _Dance Dance Revolution_?"

"It stands for disarmament, demobilization and reintegration," Cat said. "It refers to any mission in which the goal, rather than destroy the target, is to stop the target's further activities and repurpose them. Usually, it's a peacekeeping operation aimed at taking war-torn societies and trying to improve them."

Robin nodded.

"And you think that J's amnesia might be the result of one of these operations?" he asked.

"Methods of child soldier rehabilitation have improved in recent years, but not by much," Cat said. "In the earlier years, instead of the regression therapy, the children would be taken somewhere to learn other skills so that their lives wouldn't be spent behind a gun. But the problem with that was, war was the thing that the children were most familiar with. It was all they knew. Because of that, the children would usually want to go back to the front lines, despite whatever attempts have been made to help them."

"And I'm guessing you look at it as a 'lesser of two evils' deal?" Raven asked.

"My dad never cared for kids," Cat said. "Especially ones with guns. But he did appreciate the value of a child, and because of that, I like to think he would have thought of it like that."

"What exactly did your father do?" asked Cyborg. "From what you've told us, it sounds like he'd seen a lot of action for the owner of a burger joint."

Cat chuckled.

"Well, he wasn't always in the business," she said. "In his earlier days, long before Miller's Maxi Buns, my dad was a soldier. He was born to a Japanese woman by an American soldier stationed in Japan. My dad didn't meet my grandpa until he was in his teens. While in America, he got a lot of military training. At some point, my dad returned to Japan and became a member of Japan's Special Defense Force."

"Special Defense Force?" asked Beast Boy.

"It's one of the closest things Japan has to a military," Robin said. "Japan renounces war and can't maintain an army, so they opt for their Special Defense Force as a means of national defense."

"Fascinating," said Starfire.

"My dad spent some time in the JSDF before striking out on his own," Cat said. "He was a soldier for most of his life."

Cat pointed off to her right.

"That's a picture of him, over there on the wall," she said.

The Titans looked in the direction Cat pointed and saw a portrait of a man with feathery blond hair, wearing a yellow scarf and green fatigues, and a pair of aviator sunglasses, just like the ones Cat wore.

"I see," Robin said. "I wondered why you wore sunglasses even at night."

Beast Boy chuckled.

"Yeah," he said. "Paging Dr. Hart. Dr. Corey Hart."

Cyborg scoffed.

"I will admit, it is strange," Cat said. "I wear them because I think they look cool. My dad wore them because he was photosensitive."

Cat turned back to the Titans and cleared her throat.

"Anyway," she said, "I more or less learned everything I know about combat and whatnot from him. In his later years, he was a drill instructor for special ops units. It was because of him that I became a police officer."

"And I'm guessing you got to see him a lot during his drills," J said.

"Correct," said Cat. "I kind of emulate him a little when I'm running drills."

"That's a very interesting story," Robin said. "We were actually hoping you could use that expertise of yours to help us. Someone with your expertise and connections would be in the best position to help J regain his memory."

"By 'connections,' I'm assuming you mean at the police department," Cat said.

Robin cleared his throat.

"Yes," he said. "I'm…sure you remember the robbery that J helped us stop."

"I do," Cat said. "That was really good work on his part."

"J went in practically unarmed, with only a knife," Robin said. "He sent Beast Boy in ahead to scout, and then he and I started taking out the robbers together. He took the weapons off one guy and used them to subdue the other robbers, but dismantled the rest. I'm honestly not sure what we would have done if he wasn't helping us out. There's a better than fair chance that if he wasn't there, one of those hostages could have been hurt, or worse."

"Yeah," Cat said. "That's a distinct possibility. The disadvantage of dealing with small-timers like that is that they're not as predictable as someone like Plasmus or Cinderblock."

"Exactly," Robin said. "The fix for a situation like that isn't to be unpredictable yourself, but we needed to hold back, and we couldn't do that with all five of us interfering. Problem is, as good as I am, there was a chance I could have been overpowered."

"Sounds like a good judgment call to me," Cat said. "What I'm gathering is that J has hidden talent that seems to come out whenever he needs it. From what you're saying, he took control of the situation pretty effectively."

"He did," Robin said. "The only thing we can't figure out is how or why."

"So, what are you proposing?" asked Cat.

Robin sighed.

"Well, the rest of us have talked it over," he said. "We've decided that while we prefer not to use guns in our hero work, J's skill with firearms and regular combat is too great to ignore."

"Having him give up this…'training' that he has would be like having me give up my powers, or Starfire give up her starbolts," Raven said.

"Which is most hypocritical," Starfire said. "My starbolts are far more dangerous than any firearm the police force would have at its disposal."

Cat nodded.

"And?" she prompted.

"Well, J's skills could be an asset to the team, should he decide to stay on as one of us," said Robin. "But…he'll need practice. And more training. Neither of those are things we can give him at the Tower alone. He'll need to be coached and certified before we can consider him completely ready. In that department, the Titans can only go so far."

Cat quirked an eyebrow behind her aviators.

"Are you suggesting that I let him train in firearm use and then give him a special permit to use them in your crime-fighting activities?" she asked.

Robin cleared his throat again.

"Well…yes," he said. "But there's more to it than that. If we let him train with you, it could help jog his memory. You must understand, ma'am, I wouldn't suggest something like this unless I were completely serious."

"I can understand," Cat said, looking over at J. "It is highly unorthodox to let someone underage have free use of a firearm, but you are right. His skills can't be ignored."

"So, what do you suggest?" asked Robin.

"Well, nothing yet," Cat said. "I'll need to talk things over with the police before we know anything definitive. I can't make any promises yet, except that I will pass our concerns along to the police department."

Cat leaned forward.

"But even if the police don't agree with us, we will try and figure something else out together," she said. "Hopefully, it won't come to that, but if it does, we can try and work something else out. You know what? I think I'll work on this as a pet project of some kind. Something I do outside of police business."

"We're appreciative of your consideration, Cat," said Robin.

Cat nodded.

"Alright," she said, smiling. "Enough seriousness. Time for you guys to enjoy the best burgers of your lives."

Cat flourished and the Titans followed her hand. Coming toward the table was a server holding a large tray of burgers and fries.

The server set the food in front of each of their respective eaters.

"If you guys are still hungry after this round, we'll have some more," said Cat.

Robin held up his hands.

"You don't have to do that, Cat," he said. "We would hate to impose."

"Please," Cat said. "Half the people in this place feel indebted to you. They feel like it's the least they can do. Besides, you may be superheroes, but you're still kids. You're still growing. By nature, you guys have big appetites. So, eat your fill. More, if you like."

"I've heard enough," Cyborg said with a smile. "I think I'll start with one of the pizza burgers."

Cyborg picked one up and unwrapped it. He gave it a sniff and smiled.

"Wow," he said. "That smells divine."

With that, he put it in his mouth and chomped down.

"Hey!" he said, with his mouth still full. "This is delicious!"

"I told you," said Cat.

"Man, if this is the standard for all your burgers, I can't wait to see what the Chemical Burger is like," said Cyborg.

"I'm sure you'll love it, Cyborg," said Cat.

Beast Boy unwrapped his burger and gave it a look.

"Looks good enough," he said. "I mean, you did say fruit _salad_ burger, so I suppose it looks as good as a fruit salad can look."

"Just looks like a conglomeration of monkey food to me," muttered J.

"What was that?" asked Beast Boy.

"Nothing," J said.

"Just give it a try, Beast Boy," said Cat. "See what you think."

Beast Boy lifted the burger to his mouth and took a measured bite. His eyebrows shot to the top of his hairline as he nodded and shrugged.

"That's not bad," Beast Boy said. "Got all kinds of sweetness here."

"We try to use the natural sweetness of the fruits to our advantage, and use techniques that enhance and compliment it, hence the honey glaze on the bun," said Cat.

"It's pretty clever," Beast Boy said.

Raven looked between Beast Boy and Cyborg before looking down at her "lamburger."

"Well, I guess I might as well," she said.

She picked up her burger and took a bite as Cyborg and Beast Boy chomped on their burgers. Robin and Starfire looked at Raven expectantly.

Raven nodded.

"This is pretty good," she said. "It kind of reminds me of those 'Philly cheese steak' things people like. That and melt sandwiches."

"When my Dad made it, he wanted it to be made of things people associate with lamb," said Cat. "The bun's not too hard to bite through thanks to the process we put it through. The idea for the Greek yogurt spread came from lamb being a staple food in Greece."

"It makes a pretty good substitute for Miracle Whip," said Raven. "I'll give you that."

Robin looked down at the burger that he received. Sure enough, it had a blue tinge to it. Robin gulped as he looked down at it.

Cat sighed.

"Look," she said. "Would it help if I took a bite of it first?"

"No," Robin said. "I can do it."

"Come on, Robin," Cyborg said.

"I'm doing it, okay?" Robin asked, scowling at the semi-robot.

Robin finally lifted the burger to his mouth and, just like Beast Boy, took a measured bite of the sandwich.

Halfway through his bite, Robin froze and his eyes went wide.

"Well?" Cat asked.

Robin spoke, mouth still full of burger.

"It's…it's…it's…" Robin stammered.

The other Titans leaned forward to hear Robin's response.

"It's…delicious!" he gasped.

"Right?" asked Cat, smiling. "The perfect burger in every way, right?"

"My God," Robin said. "I take back everything I said about this burger before. _This_ is how a burger is supposed to taste. There is no alternative."

"Sounds like an endorsement to me," Cyborg said, lifting up one of the Chemical Burgers he ordered.

Cyborg took his own bite and practically moaned into the sandwich.

"He's right," he said. "I think I've died and gone to Burger Heaven."

Cat did a mock chuckle and rubbed her hands together.

"Speaking of endorsements," she said, "perhaps we could work out some kind of endorsement deal from the Titans. I can only imagine how much more business we'd get if we were reputed as the Titans' favorite burger place."

Robin chuckled.

"Let's just get through this meal first, eh?" he asked.

Starfire unwrapped her chemical burger and started eating it.

"Robin and Cyborg are both correct," she said. "I have never tasted a burger of the ham that tasted this good."

As the group ate their burgers, they continued to converse. Before long, however, Cat paid their bill and the group dispersed.

"I'll see you guys after a while," said Cat. "I'll try and be in touch with you guys within the next couple of days."

With that, Cat went to her car and got in. As they watched her drive off, the Titans went to their own vehicles and prepared to leave.

"So, good news," Cyborg said, starting the T-Car and putting it in gear. "I mean, she didn't come right out and say it, but it sounds like we have her support."

J climbed into the passenger seat next to Cyborg and slumped backwards.

"Sup, dude?" asked Beast Boy as he climbed into the back seat next to Raven and Starfire.

"Nothing," said J. "Just tired again. Too much thinking exhausts me."

"Don't worry, dude," Beast Boy said. "We'll be back at the Tower soon and you can collapse if you want."

"If you prefer, we can move you to a different room," Raven said.

"I'll be fine," J said. "That bed beats wet grass any day."

"If you say so," said Raven. "A lot of guys would have reservations about being in a girl's room, is all."

"Well, from what you told me, it doesn't sound like it's her room anymore," said J.

"Good point," said Raven.

"So, J," Cyborg said, "was that burger everything you wanted?"

"Better," said J. "Perfectly proportioned and seasoned and…just perfect."

"Good," said Cyborg. "Which one did you like the best?"

"The Chemical Burger was pretty damn good," said J. "But I have to say, the Pizza Burger was a close second."

Beast Boy groaned and retched.

"I don't understand how you guys can love meat so much," he said. "You know that used to be a living thing, right?"

"You know, Beast Boy, some meats are made from bears," said J. "If the situation were reversed, do you really think that bear would have a problem eating us?"

"That's different!" exclaimed Beast Boy.

"You're right," said J. "It is. The bear would be alive and you wouldn't be."

Beast Boy slapped his forehead and looked out the window.

"So, what's next on our agenda?" asked J.  
"Well, we can't do any more tonight," said Cyborg. "So, we might as well head back to the tower and keep an eye on the city for now. Who knows? Maybe you'll get another chance to help us out."

"You'll think this is crazy, but I wouldn't mind trying something out on my own," said J.

Everyone in the car looked at J.

"What are you talking about?" asked Raven.

"I mean, like, that robbery we stopped earlier," said J. "If another one of those happened, I'd like to see how I would do by myself."

"Sounds like you're getting kind of cocky," said Cyborg with a frown.

J quirked an eyebrow.

"What?" he asked. "No, I'm just saying I think it'd be interesting if I got to try something on my own."

"Sounds like you're getting too big for your britches to me," replied Beast Boy, doing his best Southern accent.

J's brow furrowed.

"Look, I'm just saying that…" he began.

"That you think you'd do better by yourself than with us?" asked Raven.

"Listen to me!" growled J. "I'm trying to tell you that-"

"Friends, please," Starfire said. "We must not fight. Perhaps one of friend J's hidden talents is overconfidence."

"I am not overconfident!" J grumbled. "I just think it would be interesting if…ugh! Forget it."

J slumped in his seat and stared out his side of the windshield.

In a matter of minutes, the Titans and their new guest were back at the Tower, and J silently followed the group inside.

J closed his eyes as they all went in through the front door, and in place of the Titans in front of him, he could see a large, imposing machine, which seemed to be staring right down at him. He could see soldiers around it, patrolling.

J couldn't identify what he was seeing, but it looked like some sort of robot with large, dinosaur-like legs, an angular, box-shaped head, and a long arm protruding forward from its right side. The way the head was positioned made it seem as though the machine was staring down at him, watching him. As he looked around himself, he could see a few of the soldiers surrounding him, and next to him, he could see a man with a very strange costume, all in black. But the most distinguishing feature was the man's face…or rather, his lack of one.

J opened his eyes and shook his head.

"What is it?" asked Raven, turning toward J.

"It's nothing, Raven," J said.

Raven shrugged and the group continued into the Tower. Soon, the group reached the hallway where their rooms were located, at which point, J broke off from the group. He went down the hall to his room and went into it, crossing over to his bed and laying down. He slowly closed his eyes and waited for sleep to take its hold.

* * *

 _"You hope the hatred might someday replace the pain…but it never goes away. It makes a man hideous, inside and out."_

 _"I am the absence of words."_

 _"Revenge!"_

 _"Kill me!"_

 _"KILL ME!"_

 _"Finish your mission!"_

 _"…dies…the host dies with it."_

 _"Prove your loyalty!"_

"… _DIE!"_

J shot up in his bed, pulling his knife out from under his pillow and swiping it in front of him. Warily, he looked about the room, but found nothing. He sighed and dropped his knife next to his pillow before rolling on his side and closing his eyes. After a few moments, he opened his eyes again and rolled out of bed before walking down the hall to the gym. He grabbed a spare shirt and put it on.

J looked at the punching bag in the corner and took out his knife. He placed both of his hands in front of him and crouched down, slowly advancing toward the bag. He kicked at the bag and punched it before bringing the knife in front of him, placing the bag between himself and the blade of the knife. J brought his arms together, putting the bag into a chokehold, and repeatedly squeezing before letting go of the bag. He then retreated back before doing the same thing, only instead of "choking" the bag, he brought the blade across its throat, causing sand to spurt out of the hole.

"Hey!" exclaimed a voice. "What the hell!"

J whirled around and saw Cyborg leaning against the door of the gym, frowning at him.

"What?" asked J.

"What are you doing, man?" asked Cyborg, gesturing to the bag.

J looked back at the training tool, then back at Cyborg. He shrugged.

"I was…practicing some techniques," said J.

Cyborg narrowed his eyes further.

"I'm not sure that's the kind of technique you should be practicing, J," said Cyborg.

J shrugged again.

"It just came to mind," he said. "I've been trying to remember things, and…"

"And what?" asked Cyborg.

"All that I've been able to come up with is this," J said. "Amid all the noise and the dreams and visions, the thing that sticks out most is all of this training."

Cyborg's frown faded ever so slightly.

"Really?" he asked. "That's it?"

"I mean, I remember the things I…well, that I remember, but I can't fit anything together," said J. "Like I said before, it's just noise. I can't derive anything from it. It's like I broke a window, but only three of the pieces are here."

"And no matter how good a construction worker you are, you can't make a window from three little shards," said Cyborg. "I get it."

J turned to look at the bag again.

Cyborg uncrossed his arms and leaned away from the door.

"What are you even doing here right now, J?" asked Cyborg. "I mean, you do what you want here, nobody can stop here, but I can't imagine why you'd want to be, especially at…"

Cyborg trailed off, looking at the nearby clock.

"…dear Lord, five in the morning?" he continued. "How are you even out of bed right now?"

"Trust me, after the night I've had…" said J.

"Let me guess," said Cyborg. "More memories?"

"Yeah," said J. "And not the good kind."

"Yeah, none of those memories of yours seem to fall in that group," said Cyborg.

"I couldn't sleep, and I came down here and thought maybe doing a little sparring would take my mind off it," said J. "And you'll think it's weird, but the kinds of things I can do – the techniques I know – they seem to be the only thing that don't hurt me somehow."

Cyborg opened his mouth to speak, but before he could say a word, J whirled back around.

"Look, Cyborg," said J. "Sorry for destroying that bag. If you want me to leave, I will. I haven't forgotten what you guys said about how you handle criminals. I'm still trying to figure things out. You guys have found an outlet for the things I can do and I appreciate that. If you prefer, I'll wait until we make contact with Cat before I do any more training."

With that, J took off the shirt he had put on and sheathed his knife before walking past Cyborg and out the door. As J left, Cyborg looked down at the bag J had destroyed before turning off the light and heading back to his room.

* * *

Later, when everyone was up and about, Cyborg came down to find Robin and Starfire sitting at the breakfast table, while Beast Boy and Raven sat on the couch, Raven reading and Beast Boy playing a fighting video game.

"Hey, guys," said Cyborg.

"Hey, Cyborg," said Robin.

Cyborg came over and sat with Robin and Starfire.

"Something wrong?" asked Robin.

"I'm not sure," said Cyborg. "I was hoping to talk to you about that."

"It's J, isn't it?" asked Beast Boy, not looking away from the TV screen, but catching everyone's attention.

"Yeah," said Cyborg. "I found him in the gym this morning."

"I thought I smelled sweat," said Beast Boy.

"What was he doing in there?" asked Robin.

"If you asked him, he would probably tell you he was sparring," said Cyborg. "What I saw was…well, it made me nervous."

"What did he do?" asked Starfire.

"J took his knife to one of the punching bags," said Cyborg. "Gutted it."

Beast Boy and Raven both looked up at Cyborg then, and Beast Boy's character in the game made a groaning noise as it ran out of energy.

"Well, that would make me nervous too," said Beast Boy.

Beast Boy and Raven both came over to the breakfast table and sat.

"Now, before you guys jump to any conclusions, you should hear how the conversation went," said Cyborg.

"Well, how did it go, then?" asked Raven.

"Yeah," said Beast Boy. "I'd love to hear how rational a conversation with a guy who just stabbed a training dummy can be."

"He's got a point," said Raven.

"It wasn't really that simple," said Cyborg. "Go figure, right? With J, it never is."

"Just tell us what happened while you were there."

"J said he was down there because the was having more of those nightmares of his," said Cyborg. "He came down to try and take his mind off them. When I called him out on the bag, he put his knife away, told me he'd wait to do more training until Cat had been in contact and then he just left. I haven't seen him since then."

"Did he say anything else?" asked Robin.

"Not really," said Cyborg. "He just says that those skills of his are the only memories he has that don't cause him some kind of pain. He apologized about what he did, and said he hasn't forgotten what we've taught him. I don't know. The whole conversation was like that story you hear all the time about George Washington."

"With the apple tree?" asked Beast Boy.

"Cherry tree," said Cyborg.

"Oh, right," said Beast Boy. "The apple tree was Lincoln."

Cyborg shook his head and Raven rolled her eyes.

"Anyway, I don't know," said Cyborg. "The whole thing was confusing and a little bit scary. I didn't even recognize the kid who took out that bag, but I did recognize the kid who left the room."

Robin shrugged.

"That's very interesting, Cyborg," he said. "That's for sure. And I'm glad you brought it to our attention. I don't know what we can do about it now, but when Cat gets back in touch with us, I'll pass along our concerns."

Cyborg nodded.

"For now, that's as good a solution as any," said Cyborg.

As Cyborg finished his sentence, the TV screen's image was distorted, and the group turned to face it as a new image appeared on it. The image was black and orange, and the part that was orange had an eye that seemed to stare right at each of the Titans. Below the eye were three vertical slits. The image looked at the Titans and spoke directly to them.

"Hello, Titans," said the image in a quiet voice.

Robin jumped out of his chair and faced the screen.

"Slade," he said, scowling at the screen.

"I see you've kept the city in shape in my absence," said Slade. "Good."

(A/N: Slade – Ron Perlman)

"What in the world do you want, Slade?" asked Robin.

"Not _in_ the world, Robin," said Slade. "That's just it. I want the world."

To be continued…


End file.
